


You, Me, and The World’s Edge

by Off_My_Rocker



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Awkward Flirting, Biting, Developing Relationship, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hair Braiding, Heartache, I use to write nothing but smut, Lesbian Character, Neck Kissing, Oral Sex, Romantic Fluff, Skinny Dipping, Smooch, Smut, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Useless Lesbians, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Wraith is kinda a bottom, cheek kiss, kiss, neck biting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2020-12-21 06:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21070718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Off_My_Rocker/pseuds/Off_My_Rocker
Summary: Apex legends: Wraith x Wattson storyAfter a glorious battle in the apex games, Wraith and Wattson both found themselves a much earned victory; however, when the drop-ship that would come to take them home, never shows, the two must now continue to work off each other and find a way to escape the arena. Are the two victors trapped in World’s edge with little resources; and can they find another way to escape the bloodied fields of the apex games?





	1. Chapter 1: It’s just the two of us now!

Chapter 1: It’s just the two of us now!

_ “Sniper, move!” _

The shot was so loud, it crackled like thunder and rolled through the body. No mistaking the roar of a Kraber shot.

“Keep your head low! They’ve got a shot on us!” Wraith warned as she pressed her back to the chilled walls of the skyscraper her and Wattson bunkered in. The wind howled and the cold nipped through the broke windows of Capitol Central. The ring had brought them here to face their final team of the apex games. The Legends Wraith and Wattson were the only ones left of their team of three, losing their fellow teammate, Pathfinder in the previous fight. Stakes were high now, as it was most likely a two versus three fight, but the gals were not ready to quit yet. 

Another shuttered crack of a Kraber shot, this one just barely chipping the window seal Wraith peek her head out of. 

“Dammnit! I can’t get a good angle on them.” Wraith cursed reloading her Longbow. 

“Should we stay here, then? They have higher ground then us, I’m not sure we are in good positioning.” Wattson was currently applying a syringe to her arm that she had snagged off a fresh corpse, from their previous battle moments ago.

“We could press further into the city and see if we can get to even or higher ground than them.” 

_“You can’t stay here! Get out! Move it! Now!”_

Wraith shook her head, with a grunt, to clear the voices echoing in her skull.

“Yeah, let’s get what we can and head up the street. I’ll punch us a portal.” The sound of a grenade blowing one of the doors off in the building, snapped Wraith up on her feet.

“_They’re coming! Hurry!”_

Within a blink, Wraith passed into the void and slip out one of the broken windows. Once she met with the concrete road below, she began running her feet and a portal up the street to one of the taller skyscrapers. Wattson did her part, gathering up supplies they would need from the multitude of brightly colored death boxes riddling the stair cases.

“I have our teammates banner. I don’t believe there are any more beacons we can use, but this way we will take him with us to our victory!” Wattson explained as she slipped their fallen teammates banner into her backpack. 

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. We still have a fight left to put up!” Wraith argued as she set the portal. Giving no moment to even blink, Wraith immediately began climbing the stair case to the roof of the building, hoping to scope out her enemies before they realize they had escaped. Wattson gather up a few more med-kits and several more rounds of heavy ammo, and started her escape to Wraith’s portal. Another quaking explosion followed by loud foot steps. The enemy were now stomping their way through the building Wattson was trying to escape. 

“Wattson! Get out, NOW!” Wraith called.

Wattson then jumped out the same window as Wraith did, with a much less graceful landing, and leaped in to the portal, almost completely falling over once she reached the other side. Collecting herself and taking a moment to realize where she was, Wattson turned to follow up the same staircase to the roof. Distant explosions could still be heard, it seem like the enemy team had yet to noice the two ladies had quietly slipped away to higher, safer ground. 

“Pylons up!” Wattson announce setting upher pylon to further their defenses. “Here, I grabbed a few, just in case.” Wattson said placing a case of heavy bullets next to the inter-dimensional skirmisher, as she quietly aimed her sights down the street. 

“Thanks.” Wraith replied without so much as turning her head or losing an ounce of focus. Nothing could break her determination or concentration in the heat of battle. She was a one track mind in these games and nothing but the victory was ringing in her head. 

A sharp eye and a grade-A scope catches Octane running ramped around the building the two women previously resided in. A quick finger on the trigger from the skirmisher knocks Octane to his knees. 

“Got one!” She announced reloading her sniper. “They’re down one! Let’s get ready to move in!” Wraith grabbed an arm full of thermite grenades and began launching them at the downed player. They set the ground a blaze almost downing poor octane in a burst of fire

“Let’s move!” She yelled as she jumped from the top of the building in hot pursuit, swapping out her longbow for her loyal Peace Keeper.

“Right behind you!” Wattson followed with Spitfire in hand. The two rushed Octane knocking him out of the fight for good, but also alerting the enemy to their position. Not even a second later a blaring red flare was flung from the side of the building and hit the concrete. 

“Air strike!” Wattson yelled. Wraith immediately snagged Wattson’s hand and pulled her into the building, getting them as far from the door as possible. 

The rolling thunder missiles quickly dropped and covered the streets of Capitol City. It was quiet, only for a moment. Wraith and Wattson huddled into a corner to shelter from the damage as only seconds later, deafening explosions shook the building, causing everything within to shake, rattle, shutter, and break. Once silence fell again the two women looked at each other as if to check and see if they made it out alive. 

“Barely made it out of that one. Thanks for the pull.” Wattson nodded, however Wraith hardly acknowledged her. The battle wasn’t over. It was still a two-vs-two game. 

_“Go! Now! Their guard is down.”_

Wraith’s eyes opened wide as she stood to her feet. “Let’s go! They aren’t expecting us!” She helped Wattson to her feet then held tight to her peace keeper dashing out the door. Sure enough the enemy team had stoped to gather the supplies they were lacking from the variety of death boxes decorating the streets. The front doors of the building were kicked down with a shatter as Wraith jumped into action, laying a full pump of peace keeper power into Bangalore. Bangalore was out with a single skilled shot. Wraith had come to master the Peace Keeper and it’s lethal damage, making every shot count and every shot hit. Wattson followed right behind her, quickly mowing down the Lifeline next to Bangalore, causing both to be down and out of the fight! The two were made and example of by Wraith’s Feral nature and Wattson’s quick smarts. 

The alarms sounded and the grand announcement was made. 

“We have our Apex champions.” Rang through the streets of capitol central. 

It was a moment of pure bliss knowing they made it out alive and hardly scratched up at that.

Wraith dropped her shotgun in full relief with a sigh. It was like she was holding her breath for the past few hours, staying so focused, and on course, keeping her eyes on nothing but the prize. Wattson chirped a relieved giggle as well, overjoyedto hear that they had come out on top, once again! Another great victory! The large digital banners towering across the arena displayed Wattson, Wraith, and Pathfinder as the champions. What a glorious sight to see. 

“Excellent work, Renee!” Wattson placed a hand on the Skirmishers back which, in return, earned Wattson a rare smile from her. 

“Same to you Natalie, well done!” Wraith gave another sigh before turning to face the charming blonde. It wasn’t uncommon for the legends to use their real names out side of combat, but in the heat of battle call names were preferred and easier to use. 

“High five?” Wattson asked as she held her arm up giving an adorable smile. Wraith looked at Wattson’s raised hand, then back to her face, giving her a less than entertained look. 

“Come on. For Pathfinder at least?” With the roll of her eyes, it seemed as though Wattson had convinced her. Wraith gave a high five to the electric defender, and both gave a small chuckle afterwards. 

“Ah, my feet are killing me!” Wattson whined as she stretched her back then ran her hands down her aching legs. “I can’t wait to get back to the dormitories and have a nice warm bath to ease all this tension in my muscles. We did so much excess running today.” The blonde gave a groan as the two of them began to strip their armor, weapons, and backpacks. 

“Yeah well, Path insisted on landing on the train. It only took us the compete opposite direction of the ring.” Wraith said with a shake of her head. Their supplies were left in a pile on the ground due to the rules of no weapons on the drop or return ships. Once a match was won, a return ship would come for the victors and safely treat their injuries, get them some food, and return them to their dormitories for some rest before the next games were scheduled. The ring would fade out and the ship would drop at the nearest respawn beacon to take them home. 

“We are becoming a pretty good team, you and me.” Wraith stated as the two began their walk to the respawn beacon outside the city. “I know we haven’t had too much time on the field together but, I feel recently we have been doing much better in our matches.”

“I’m glad you think that!” Wattson chirped with a smile, “I guess we have gotten more use to each other’s flow and how we can better work as one. But you know, we can only get better the more we are teamed up.” Wattson playfully hummed glancing over to give wraith an obvious hint.

“Are you asking for a regular team-up?” Wraith question raising her eyes brows playfully in return. She was hardly one to goof off to much, but they had just won a killer match, so she was in a good mood. 

“Regular teammates with a static defender....hmmm.” Wraith thought allowed. 

“I’m not that horrible, am I?” She faked being offended with a chuckle.

“Mmmm..” wraith smirked to her, “of course not. I’ll definitely consider it. You got a lot of potential and shown so much skill on the battle field!” The skirmisher admitted with a head nod. “But there is always more you can learn and put to practice. That’s the rule for everyone, including myself.”

“Of course, but I am more that willing and wanting to learn! That means a lot coming from a legend, as yourself. I’ll take your words to heart.” Wattson was sincerely joyed to hear Renee would consider her offer and to hear that she saw so much potential in her, sent butterflies swirling her stomach.What a wonderful way to end a championship! 

Unfortunately, things were to take a turn for the worse


	2. Chapter 2: Power Outage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the drop ship, that would normally return for the victorious team, didn’t show up to World’s Edge, Renee and Natalie make plans to find a different beacon but quickly find themselves in the middle of a massive power outage causing the entire arena to go radio silent.

Chapter 2: Power Outage 

With another victory under her belt, Renee Blasey was an almost an undefeated legend. There wasn’t any games recently where she wasn’t at least in the top 3 squads for the match. She had proven to put her skills to the test and come out a champion of the apex games. She could never make it there alone however, and Renee was very aware of that fact. Her squad-mates always helped her reach the goals, make the pushes, and score these challenging victories, as a team! Today was no different. 

Renee had worked with Natalie several times before, but today felt like a special victory between them, it was just the two of them that claimed a victory after all, and that’s no easy feat. Natalie was proving more and more to be a worthy teammate/ opponent and Renee kept a close eye on her growing skills. But this was thought for another day. Renee was exhausted after a tough day at the games. Nothing would be more rewarding than to get back to the dormitories, eat a hot meal, take a fresh shower, and get to sleep in tomorrow. 

“Wonder what they will serve for dinner tonight?” Renee said building small talk with her blonde comrade. 

“Beats me. But I’ll probably eat anything they put in front of me. Oh! I do hope they sever that Zucchini bread again! That was such a treat.” Natalie hummed with a grin. The two victors were making there way to the respawn beacon outside of Capitol Central so they could return home and enjoy a relaxing few days of no games and no worries.

“I can’t wait to get back to my dorm. I was in the middle of designing a different type of ring for the arenas. It was a request by some of the game runners, that I see what I can come up with for them.” 

“Huh, interesting. What exactly are you going to change?” Renee questioned. 

“Not too sure yet, I’m just tinkering with some ideas and plans. But nothing official yet. I will try and strengthen the ring some since the last one in King’s Canyon was almost destroyed from that massive EMP blast.” The blonde shrugged as she stepped onto the concrete stair way that led up to the platform where the respawn beacon was. 

“Well good luck with that.” Renee replies shaking her head not even trying to image all the math and science that went to creating such a beast as the ring was. She followed behind Wattson up to the platform where the respawn beacon sat. 

The beacons main purpose was to bring fallen teammates back into the fight, however it was also used at the end of matches to call the drop ship down. A large blue button sat on the side of the beacon, cover with a glass casing. Normally, during a match the glass casing would be sealed shut, but now that match was over and the casing was unlocked. Wattson pulled the glass back and pressed the button, making a loud ping. The beacon beamed a bright blue light, stating that connection to a drop ship was being made and one would be there within minutes. 

Everything was going swimmingly, the match was won, the two claimed there

Victory, and now the women were bonding over small talk, until the minutes grew. The drop ships usually take ten minutes to show up at least. Renee and Natalie had found themselves sitting there for over half an hour before and uneasiness began to settle. 

“Mmm the ship is taking a while, non?” Natalie said as she sat herself down on the concrete steps. “Wonder if everything is okay?” She turned to the skirmisher behind her who stood, with her back against a large rock. 

“I was starting to wonder that as well.” Renee had learn patience with, not only herself and who she had become, but with the world around her, but a late ride would frustrate anyone. “Maybe the beacon is busted. We could try another one. Got nothing to lose.” Renee said as she pulled herself off the rock started her way to the next closest beacon. 

Natalie wasn’t sure about this. The beacons were kept in top condition for the games, she would know. Natalie had several connections to people who kept up with the apex games and the arenas. It would be strange to have a malfunctioning beacon but not impossible, she supposed. “Ah there’s one just across the hill we could use.” 

“Perfect let’s ge-“ 

_“Take cover! Watch out! Somethings coming!”_

Renee’s words were cut short by a thundering electric spark that bolted through the arena. Both women cover their ears from the spark’s teeth grinding shrill as it shutter through all electronics with marvelous sparks. A massive electrical wave had passed through the arena cutting the power from all sources. The large banners that valiantly showed the victors went black, all street lights were busted, the train that chugged it way around the arena powered down to a halt, and of course the beacons lost all power. After the shock wave had ran though everything across the arena,both the legends pulled their hands from their ears and look around in shock. 

“What the hell...” Renee looked around for the source of the massive pulse but all was dark dead around the arena. Even the digital maps they were equip with to navigate the arena were dead now.

“It can’t be...Not this again!” Natalie exclaimed, looking down.

“Wait, again? What are you talking about?” Renee asked.

“It can be this again, can it?” Natalie had completely drowned Renee out in her thoughts. The blonde chewed her bottom lip as she thought and mumbled to herself in worry. “What is going on, why does this..”

“Natalie! what’s going on?” The blonde stayed silent a moment more, before looking to the skirmisher and grabbing her hand, pulling her along as she started making her way back through the arena.

“Hey! What are you-Natalie!” Renee yelled this time.

“If this is what I think it is, then we can’t stay here. We need to find some where to shelter ourselves.” Natalie tugged Renee along till the bleach-eyed woman was able to pull free of the blondes tight grasp.

“Answer my questions first! What is going on?” Renee rubbed her wrist where Natalie tugged her, as she looked to her with dead serious eyes. Natalie broke away from the intense eye contact and sighed. It took her a moment, but her words finally formed. 

“King’s Canyon had a massive EMP hit it not long ago. It knocked out the power,the ring, and all electricity from the entire arena. I think....that is what just went off here, but I’m not 100% sure of it.” Her gloved hand rubbed the back of her neck as her eyes continued to steer away from Renee’s.

“If that is what happened, then there is no power anywhere in the arena, and no power leads to a big problem for us!” Natalie frowned and gripped her hand into a fist. She silently thought then sprung up with a thought. “I need to see if there is any power left anywhere at all in the arena. I can generate a little bit of electricity from my pylon but it was struck by that EMP too, so it’s most likely dead as well. If I could get even the smallest spark of electricity, my pylon would charge and we could generate more power from it. However no power at all, means no connection with the beacons and drop ships, and that means-“

“-no getting home. Right.” Renee groaned, “just great!” After a moment of dreading silence between the two, Renee spoke, “Okay, where do you want to look first, and let’s make it snappy, daylight will only be here so long.” Natalie met her eyes again. Renee looked to her with confidence and strength, two things Natalie found herself lacking from time to time. She wasn’t fighting this alone, she had her teammate with her. That’s thought alone gave the blonde a different perspective on the situation. 

_ “I have her here!” _

Natalie gave a determined smile and a nod in return. 

“Right! Let’s head to one of the train stations and check there! There is bound to be a back up battery or engine for the trains there. If the batteries are charged, I can easily use them to power my pylon!” Natalie explained as the two began heading towards the nearest train station, Train Yard. 

“If I can get even the smallest spark, I can use it to generate my pylon and create more electricity. Hopefully, I can get enough going that we can power up one of the beacons and get call another ship.” 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Renee agreed, “let’s get going then, we don’t have time to waist. I’d rather not get stuck here in the dead of dark.” Train Yard was just a hop, skip, and jump up the road from Capitol City, the only issue brewing was, their daylight at this time was limited and trying navigate in pure darkness, would prove a challenge.

—————————————-

Authors notes: 

Greetings everyone!~~~

I’ve been typing up this second chapter though out my day. I hope my ideas are not scattered or seem unorganized from it. 

I personally like to build relationships in stories, so I will very much be doing that with this pairing. It might seem time consuming or boring to some, but it’s just a personal preference of mine. The fluff and smut will come soon ;D

I just need to build on it.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed! 

Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: M.I.A.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hours after the latest match, the champions have yet to return to the dormitories and no one has seen them since. Curious, Mirage goes around asking questions to see where his friends could have gone, if anyone’s seen them, and if they were alright.

Chapter 3: M.I.A. 

The day was drawing to a close as the sun started to set over the Legend’s dormitories. Bloodhound was returning from the shooting gallery after their daily training session in sharpening their skills. Bloodhound was already a good shot, but they always saw ample opportunity to improve upon themselves. Finishing for the day however, they were making their way back to the dorms to enjoy some evening prayer, tea, and rest before starting bright and early tomorrow, before they were stopped in the hall.

“Hey, yo, Bloodhound, my buddy!” An over confident voice called from behind them. Bloodhound turned to see the slick and iconic Mirage approaching giving the mysterious figure finger guns, “You got a second?” Mirage caught up with the hunter and placed a hand on their shoulder. “You wouldn’t of happened to see blondie or emo-face around, would you?” 

Bloodhound, ever so patient, moved Mirage’s hand from their shoulder and looked to him tilting their head slightly, “I do not understand whom you are referring to?” Mirage’s cheesy smile faded as he rolled his eyes and further explained. 

“You know, Wattson and Wraith, Nat and Ree?” Mirage said gesturing the two women’s heights with his hands as he spoke. 

“Ah, the Electrician and Skirmisher.” Bloodhound nodded. “Unfortunately, my friend, I have not see of them since this morning, before the slatra.” 

“Damn...” Mirage groaned under his breath. “No ones seen them all day. Kinda fishy don’t you think?” 

“That is most strange. All legends are to return to the dormitories after dark. Its still early, but I don’t believe them to be ones to break rules.” Bloodhound crossed their arms and thought. “They are missing? None have seen them?” 

“Well, the last ones to see them were Ajay and Anita, but that was during the match, hours ago.” Mirage rubbed the back of his neck, “I think Pathfinder was the first to bring it up that they were gone. He wanted to celebrate the victory they had gotten but couldn’t find them, and now, no one can.” Bloodhound looked down and pondered for a moment.

“Perhaps the best measure for now is to wait. No need to make a fuss over nothing. Tomorrow morning, if they haven’t not been spotted yet, that will be the time to start searching for them.” Bloodhound gave Mirage’s back a pat, “Perhaps they are out celebrating the victorious saltra they made today.” 

“Without their other teammate? Kinda weird but um...” Mirage moved in closer to the masked figure and whispered, “Pathfinder is kinda creepy sometimes so who knows.” He backed off and shrugged, “Well, just keep an eye out for them. No ones heard or seen them since the match earlier.” 

“I will remain cautious to their absence. Thank you for informing me.” Bloodhound nodded as they turned to continue their walk to their dorm. 

“Ah, sure thing, pal! Um... talk-talk later I guess? Yeah...” Mirage turned and headed back down the hall. While it wasn’t uncommon for the legends to celebrate victories, the two women had been gone for hours with not a sign of them returning. Mirage found it fishy but Bloodhound had a point. They would probably show back up at some point during the evening and nothing will be made of it. At least, that’s what he hoped for his friends.

__________________________

Author’s notes:

Greetings everyone!~~~

Very short chapter, I know. I wanted to put this in before the next chapter, but keeping it in made it too long. So I made it it’s own. It’s kinda a small “meanwhile” chapter. There will be more to see of the other legends later on, but my primary focus for this story, is with with Wraith and Wattson. The story goes back to them developing their relationship in the next chapter!

Thank you so much for reading!!


	4. Chapter 4: Good Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at Train Yard, the two were determined to find the supplies they needed so Natalie could power up a beacon. Only a small slip up reveals a more vulnerable side of Renee to Natalie.

Chapter 4: Good Eye

The walk to Train Yard wasn’t as too terrible as the women thought, but both girls were already tired from their victory and didn’t have much more step in them. It was already growing into evening and the sun was just beginning to set over World’s Edge. The last thing the two needed was to be trapped in the arena, in the complete dark with no food or water. Therefore, the women were working their best together, trying to find an alternative way to get home. 

Arriving at Train Yard, showed a mess of death boxes scattered amongst the area from where they had yet to be tidied up. 

“Keep your eyes pealed for a storage unit or maintenance room.” Natalie informed as they began walking through the ominously quiet yard. Usually the Train Yard was a war zone being a rather popular spot to drop, but with everyone being gone from the arena, it was too quiet. The Yard became unnerving to the electric defender, creating an uneasiness that began to stir up a little anxiety in her chest. Natalie’s nerves were broke, however from Renee’s voice butting into the silence. 

“What about there?” Renee directed to a door in the tunnel beneath them. The door was grey with black and yellow caution sign on it that read, ‘employees only.’

“That could work!” Natalie nodded as she started her way down the stairs to the tunnel. “Good eye!” She complimented to the skirmisher, flashing her a genuine smile. It was a relief having Renee with her. Since the passing of her father, Natalie found fear in solitude and silence. She worried she would end up alone or forgotten by others, so it was a huge relief to have the confident Wraith with her in this situation. Renee looked like she didn’t fear a thing in the Universe and she could take any challenge. How lucky of Natalie to be stuck with such a brave personality.

Approaching the door, Natalie grabbed the handle and twisted it, but with no luck, the knob wouldn’t budge. “Locked..”She said disappointed, “Figures they would try to keep us out.” Natalie looked at the door a moment and tried to think of a way to get it open. Looking for a key would be pointless, and Natalie was no locksmith, so tinkering with the lock would be time consuming and a hassle. Natalie frowned, so close but so far. She was about to suggest trying something else before Renee chimed in. 

“We might have to forcd it open.” Renee suggested, “There doesn’t seem to be many more options for us.” Natalie wasn’t too big on the idea of busting in. She knew how much time and effort it took to put these arenas together and how much effort would go into making repairs to it. However, if there was a chance that there were batteries inside she could use, they had to do what was necessary. 

“Well....I guess that is the only other option, right now.” The blonde shrugged, “so how do you-“ before Natalie could continue, Renee took a running start at the door and used the force of her feet to try and bust it open. Unfortunately, the door hardly budged. 

“Renee!” Natalie said, half startled. She didn’t know what she expected Renee to do, but not that! The skirmisher gave another hard kick to the door, putting all her weight and force into it, but still the door held tight.

“Damn! They really don’t want us getting in! Let me try again.” Renee backed up, ready to charge again, but was quickly stopped by Natalie, tugging her arm. 

“I’d rather you not break your legs kicking a door down. I don’t think I’m built to carry you around on my back. I’m sure there is a better way to get in then by kicking the door repeatedly.” Natalie took a moment to look around their environment for a better way inside. That’s when she had an idea. 

“Perhaps we could blow the door open? It’s definitely not what I would prefer, but it’s probably easier that the door kicking strategy.” Natalie suggested giving Renee an uncertain look. Renee nodded and caught the blondes drift immediately. 

“Gotcha, Give me a second. I’ll be right back.” Renee ran back up the stairs to the mess of death boxes laying about the yard and begun to dig through them. She pulled out hand fulls of arc stars in hopes these bad boys could bust the door open. After collecting her stash of lethal stars, Renee returned to Natalie’s side and she sat the bundle of stars on the ground. “This what you had in mind?” Renee asked. 

“Yes, this should work perfectly.” Natalie nodded bending down to pick up a hand full. “Toss them towards the knob, so that if it doesn’t bust the door down, it will at least knock the knob off. Got it?” 

“Got it!” Renee nodded. “Ready?” The two women took several steps back from the door, not wanting to get caught in the blast. They both pulled their arms back and tossed the arc stars straight at the door. The stars took a brief moment to set off but once they did, BOOM! The door flung open and almost off its hinges. 

“Ah! Perfect!” Natalie clapped setting the rest of her stars down to check inside. She waved the smoke and dust away as she peeked inside. “That worked nicely! Now let’s see what we can dig up!” Natalie went straight into the dark room as Renee followed right behind. With no lights currently working and no windows, the room was pitch black, and only the light source they had, was from what was left of the sun outside.

“Alright, what do the batteries look like?” Renee asked as she stepped in with Natalie, trying to look around the staff room in the dark.

“This wasn’t exactly what I expected. This is an office.” Natalie announce as she approached an old dark wood desk. “I’m not sure they would store things like batteries in here, but They are pretty big. They are for a Train after all. But they will most likely be hook up to a charging station. Doubt any of those would be here.” Natalie pouted as she dug through the desk, before perking with a gasp followed by a smile. She pulled out a red cigarette lighter from the desk drawer, snapping the lighter on and forming soft flame at the tip, giving them a little more light to work with. “We can still look but I don’t think we will find any here.” 

Renee nodded but continued to look anyways, gently creeping her way around the room as to not bump into something or trip. As she felt around objects and items in the room, trying to see with her hands, they ran across something cold and held the texture of glassy metal .

“_Something you might need. Check it_ _.”_

She felt it once more narrowing her eyes to try and see what was under her hands. “Hey Natalie, you want to come take a look at this? Maybe this could be of use?” Natalie turned from digging around in the desk further and started making her way to the skirmisher.

“What did you find?” She asked using the lighter to guid a path through the dark office. Renee tried to make out what the item was but I was no use in such low light. 

“Not too sure.” She stated, “but it feels like a sheet of metal or something, a lot thicker though.” 

“Well, let me see. From that description it-Ahh!” Natalie have a loud yelp as her shoe was caught on a chair that sat next to the desk causing her to trip face first into the skirmisher standing close by. Both women hit the floor with a squeal and a thud. 

It took a solid moment for Natalie to realize what had happened. The blonde let out a pained groan not bothering to move off the floor out of shock, but mostly embarrassment. Wraith gave her own groan as she sat up off the ground, “Hey can you be a bit more careful. I’d really like to leave here without a concoction.” Renee rubbed the back of her head to check for any signs of injury before she felt around on the floor for her comrade. “you alright?” Renee asked adjusting her eyes to the dark once again. 

Natalie pushed herself off the ground with her hands and sat on her knees, “Ah I think so. Sorry about that!” She sheepishly apologized. “Ah Wait! The lighter!” She exclaimed feeling around the floor for the tool. Her hands patted the floor, trying to feel for the lighter until her hand landed on a more softer surface. Confused, Natalie gave the surface a squeeze, but her actions were interrupted by Renee giving a minor yelp. The skirmisher jumped at the contact and quickly knocked Natalie’s hand away. Natalie had groped Renee’s thigh by accident which rubbed the skirmisher a bit the wrong way. 

“Whoa, whoa! watch it!” She exclaimed shuffling herself a bit back from Natalie’s touch. 

“Oh! Pardon! I didn’t see your leg there.” She awkwardly apologized. A flash of heat filled her cheeks as she realized what she had done. Even more embarrassing, but before she could sulk on the thought any further, Natalie easily spotted the red lighter on the floor once Renee moved aside. She grabbed it and snapped it back on, allowing the flame give off some light. 

“Whew, got it! I have a feeling we will need to keep this around till we get some power going.” Natalie smiled to Renee, but her grin quickly faded seeing Renee look different. The older woman still remained on the floor but with a look of uneasiness on her face. “Something the matter?”

“No...” a solid and direct response but with no truth behind it. There was even a slight shakiness to her voice. Very subtle, but Natalie picked up on it. She went quiet after that and it begun to bother the blonde. Should she apologize again? I was an accident after all nothing malicious behind it.

“If you say so then...” Natalie frowned a bit at the reaction, but couldn’t let small things distract her now. The blonde stood up, dusted herself off, and checked the metallic sheets Renee mentioned earlier. Looking them over put a large grin on her face realizing what they had found. 

“Renee! These are solar panels! If I can get these out in the sun we can generate power from it!” The solar panels were quite large but still manageable to carry. Natalie held one up observing it and over joyed at the find! “What a good eye you got! This could be the thing to save our skins! Hm, but... why would they keep solar panels in an office like this?” It was a strange place for them, but why question their finding. This was just what they need!

Renee stayed quiet. That unease from earlier still bubbling around her, but she nodded in acknowledgment. The two picked up the panels and took them outside to get a better look at them. By now, the sun was setting behind the hills of World’s Edge, so there was little daylight left to actually see the panels with, however Natalie still gave them close look and configured the best way to utilize them. 

“This is wonderful! Let’s get these somewhere they can capture plenty of sun!” 

“Now? It’s almost dark.” Renee argued nudging her head to the sinking sun. 

“Of course, we can’t use them now, but I was thinking we could set them up tonight so they could get as much light as possible tomorrow.” Renee shook her head and groaned a bit in response. 

“I’m exhausted.” She said directly, “Can it wait till morning? We both need rest.” Natalie looked to the tired skirmisher and knew she couldn’t argue back. 

“I guess it will have to. Can’t charge solar panels with moonlight... or can you?” The idea sparked a smirk on Natalies face as she thought of ways to tinker with the panels to have them charge off moonlight. Renee, tired and over this entire day already, picked up the panels and started walking off into the field next to the Train Yard. 

“Wha-Wait! Where are you going?” Natalie asked as she picked up the last few panels and followed her.

“To set up a camp for the night before it gets completely dark.” Natalie caught up and walked along side the void runner, looking for the perfect spot to rest for the evening. Natalie could have easily worked through the night. It was something she had done many times before and would do many times after. Renee, however was one who needed her rest. She never got as much as she wanted, the voices in her head would keep her up for hours in the night, but she would always force herself to try. Some sleep was better than none at all. 

__________________________________

Authors notes: 

Greetings everyone!~~~ 

Hope you are enjoying the story so far. I’m trying to keep characters are realistic as possible to how they are portrayed in the Apex universe. As I’m doing this, their romantic development maybe a little slow, but that’s how I like to build my stories. Slow and steady. Things will certainly start to pick up very soon, so I hope you will stay tuned for that!

Thank you so much for reading!!


	5. Chapter 5: Firelight and Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renee and Natalie set up a small camp to rest for the night before continuing their journey to Sorting Factory, but a night with little sleep leaves a lot on Renee’s mind.

Chapter 5: Firelight and Thoughts

The long day finally drug into night. What was left of the sun, had dipped down behind the mountains of World’s Edge leaving its landscapes in the shadows. Renee and Natalie managed to set up a small camp for the night outside one of the large abandoned IMC vehicles scattered amongst the arena. The two were making quiet a cozy camp together. Renee ran and created a portal to gather dry wood to start a fire and Natalie searched the vehicle for anything to make comfortable bedding with. 

“Here, see if this will do.” The skirmisher tossed down the arm full of woodin front of the blonde. “You find anything?” She asked dusting her hands off.

“Yes actually! I managed to dig up some emergency Blankets they had tucked away along with a med kit and some survival tools like knives and matches!” Natalie chirped with glee. 

“Nice, look at you finding all this helpful stuff.” Renee comments as she started stacking the wood into a pile. She then takes the lighter, Natalie found earlier, and stuck a low flame on the wood. Within seconds it caught fire and a cozy heat emitted from the pile. Natalie brought The blankets out by the fire along side the rest of their supplies they had managed to gather through the day.

“Tomorrow, while the solar panels are charging, we should go see if there’s any food we can scrape up. We could go back to Capitol City too look, or the Sorting Factory. There is bound to be supplies there we could use.” Natalie found a comfortable place in front of the fire and sat herself there grabbing her blanket and one of the solar panels. 

“Sounds like a plan. Sorting factory sounds like a good idea since most of Capitol city is bare.” Renee joined her on the ground, finally glad to be off her feet for the day. 

“Then we shall see what we can dig up. Hopefully the panels will gather enough sunlight through the day.” The blonde sighed and removed the tight hood off her head. Her short blonde hair poofed out from the hood as she gave her head a shake. “I forget that thing is on sometimes.” Natalie chuckled as she began to strip more of her layers off, preparing for bed. Renee watched, but not directly. She had seen so little of Natalie outside her suit that she was interested to see just what she was covering up. 

First the hood, then the gloves. That’s when Renee saw it. A metal arm in place of a flesh one. Renee narrowed her eyes at the sight then looked to Natalie’s face. “Your.... your arm? You have a prosthetic?” 

The blonde looked to her confused as she tilted her head. “You didn’t know?” Natalie pulled her arm up and showed it at a better angle for her. 

“I’ve never heard you talk about it or show it.” Renee said still a little surprised. 

“It’s not like I’m trying to hide it or anything.” Natalie shrugged, “I cant do much without it after all.” She then removed her fluffy orange coat, leaving her in her turtle neck and body suit. 

“Guess I just haven’t noticed....” Renee continues to eye the prosthetic. How could she have gone this long without noticing it? Natalie was very good at keeping it hidden, that’s for sure. Natalie then folded her coat a few times and laid it on the ground behind her. 

“Can’t say I’ve every had a sleepover in a gauntlet .” Natalie grabbed her blanket and threw it over her shoulders as she inched a bit closer to the fire. “It’s actually kinda nice.” She tilted her head up to look at the sky. Unfortunately, no stars shown through the nocturnal clouds but there was still a peace about the arena. 

“I guess.” Renee pulled her scarf off and mushed it into a pile resembling a pillow on the ground. Her head found its place on the scarf, letting out a sigh as she laid back.She too looked up and observed the dark sky and closed her eyes to the cool Breeze, blowing in from Capitol City. There was a peacefulness to World’s Edge when there wasn’t the deafening sounds of grenades and sniper shots flooding the air. 

Renee knew she wouldn’t find sleep for a while. It stoped coming so easy once the voices filled her head. Natalie, however, was almost the opposite, the second she laid back to rest, she was out. There were even times back at the dorms she would pass out at her desk working on some of her personal projects. She would have no problem sleeping in front of the cozy fire tonight. Natalie laid back as well, her head laying on to her fluffy jacket as she gave a small sigh. 

“Well, get some rest, Renee, we will need it for tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, You got it.” She mumbled from the other side of the fire. The silence set in after that. Hours into the night Renee remained awake. The voices in her head were more critical today, than usual. 

_“If you would have won the match faster, you could have been gone before this happened.”_

_“You’ve put her in danger now too!”_

_“Quit slacking!”_

_“You’re getting sloppy!”_

Renee winced at the crowded voices in her head. Her fingers dug into her hair and pulled it, as if she tried to rip the voices out. 

“Fuck off....” Renee growled through her teeth, gritting them together. She finally decided that sleep wasn’t going to be an option, at least not for a while. The void runner, sat up and rubbed the tired from her eyes as she looked to see how Natalie was or if she had awoken her. She remained peacefully asleep, curled up in her thin blanket and jacket for a pillow. 

Sharp eyes watched closely, as the blonde’s body gently rose and fell with her soft breathing. Renee found it ridiculous that she could rest so easy knowing that potentially they wouldn’t be rescued and they could starve or dehydrate out here. Yet, the electrician slept like she was back in the warm dormitories, without a care in the world. 

Renee shook her head. She knew Natalie wasn’t careless but she couldn’t understand how she stayed so calm and collected over these situations. She never showed and ounce of dismay or negativity on the battlefield. It was always calculated results and careful planning with this one. Natalie was much more familiar with the gauntlets, however, she did grow up around them and creating the environment for them. Why should she be scared of her own playground? The Raven-haired woman glanced back to the resting electrician. The peace Natalie had over the situation brought subtle peace to Renee as well. She didn’t notice it yet, but having someone so knowledgeable about the arena and its history, made Renee more relaxed and more herself.

Solid teal eyes scanned over Natalie’s features carefully as she slept. Renee didn’t really notice the small details of her comrade till now. She had soft freckled skin, Renee could bet those freckles patched up her shoulder and legs too. The lichtenberg scaring on her cheek definitely had a story Renee wanted to hear, but wouldn’t press her for it. There was actually a lot about Natalie Renee was interested in finding out. What planet or sector did she live in? How did she come to love electricity of all things? What happened to her arm? Renee could feel herself getting distracted in thoughts as her eyes were on autopilot scanning the younger woman. She collected herself and gave a quiet yawn. There were many nights Renee was too tired to fall asleep, and she feared tonight was another, but she also felt like she needed to try. Rough dark hair met the the torn and tethered scarf on the grass once again. The voices were not as loud now. She glanced back, over the dying fire, to Natalie, still happily sleeping, and the voices hushed. The echos and demands, turned to quiet whispers in her brain. Much more tolerable. Maybe it was knowing she wasn’t alone here with her thoughts that brought her calmness. 

**“She’s here with me.”**

For the first time in a long while, Renee was able to close her eyes and actually feel tired, quickly sinking to sleep in minuets.

The rest was wonderful, unlike anything Renee had in years. Her sleep wasn’t interrupted by omnipresent voices screaming in her ears, her thoughts were at peace and she didn’t over think anything, no horrible nightmare from other realities, just sound sleep. The only thing that did bother her was this growing annoying chill that she couldn’t warm no matter how she turned and curled up. The cold finally awoke her with a groan as she sat up off the lightly frosted ground. 

“Bonjour, mon amie.” A gentle chipper voice chimed in across from her. “I see you’re finally up.” As soon as Renee’s eyes focused and the fog of sleep faded from them the looked across from her to see Natalie wide awake, tinkering with a solar panel in her lap. The panel was open from the back with wires and metal parts poking out of it like a gutted animal. Reneerubbed the sleep out of her eye and just gave an acknowledged groan. 

“You sleep well?” The blonde asked as she kept her eyes focused on her work. 

“I guess.” Renee’s voice cracked and growled, a symptom of good rest on her part. Renee yawned to get some extra oxygen to her brain when she saw the huff of chilled mist leave her mouth, was it that cold out? Makes sense, the icy winds from Capitol City were blowing in, so of course it would be more chilly. Renee picked up her scarf off the ground and threw it back about her neck as she inches closer to the fire. The warmth from it could have put her back to sleep, but she tried her best to stay awake. “What time is it?” She asked in a scratchy throat. 

“That is an excellent question.” Natalie chuckled. Oh, right, no power. Renee rolled her eyes at Natalie’s remark then checked her environment. The sun was almost fully up, creating marvelous colors in the sky of blues and purples from the night. It was very early. “If I had to guess, I would say about six-thirty-ish? I’m not too use to the time here so I’m uncertain.” Natalie guessed as she looked up to the drowsy skirmisher. Renee simply nodded and watched the fire crackle and dance, trying to wake up a bit more. Natalie continued to toy with the panel till finally wrapping all the wires back up and sealing the back of it. 

“There! I hope this fixes it. I found out why these solar panels were just sitting around in that office, they were kinda busted. I suppose they were taken down for maintenance. No worries though, they just needed a little tweak here and there and they should be back in working order again for us.” Natalie smiled as she grabbed the panel and stood up. She began setting them up, placing the face of the panels in positions where they could best get the most sun light absorbed.“These should be charged up by the end of the day, at least enough for me to snag some power from them. I would say by tomorrow morning, we should have enough electricity to power the beacons!” Natalie gave the panel a pat as she finished setting them up.

“Okay, that’s great and all but we need to find something to eat and stay hydrated before then.” Renee stated as she stood herself and stretched a bit. 

“Under control.” Natalie hummed as she walked back over to her things and begun gathering them up. “We mentioned it yesterday, yeah? Sorting factory has anything anyone could need. They supply everything from train parts, weapon attachments, armor, and food supplies. It’s a pretty long walk but we can get there within the next few hours.” Renee groaned. The ache of hunger pains was starting to set in. The last thing she wanted to do was walk more with nothing in her stomach to give her energy, but what choice did they have?

“Alright. Let’s get going then. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can eat.” Renee stated as she folded up her blanket and tossed it over her shoulder. 

“Right you are!” Natalie slipped her coat back on before a thought hit her, “oh yeah!” She turned and ran back into the large IMC truck they had set up camp next to and dig around for a moment, before returning to Renee with two hefty backpacks in hand. “We will definitely be bringing stuff back with us, so I ran and dug some of these up earlier!”Renee raised and eyebrow to her before taking the back pack with a soft smirk. 

_“Clever girl.”_

A voice echoed in her head causing Renee to snap in the direction she heard it. She narrowed her brow and slipped the pack on her back. “Thanks! This is definitely handy.”

“No problem!” Natalie chipped putting her own on and adjusting it to her body. “Well, let’s go! We haven’t a moment to lose!” Renee nodded in return as the two began another treck. Natalie knew they could find what they needed and more at the sorting factory. She was determined to get the two of them out of there and find out just what caused them to be stuck in the first place. All these technical issues with the arena are uncalled for. This is not poor management, this was purposeful sabotage of the arenas, of HER arenas. 

——————————————-

Authors notes:

Greetings everyone~~~ 

Wholesome soft chapter here. I have a lot planned with sorting factory and especially the Geyser in the next chapter. So stay tuned for that! I will drop some hints for it tho:

“Skinny-Dipping” ;)

So be ready for that! Anyways I hope you all enjoyed!

Thank you so much for reading!!


	6. Chapter 6: Pinky Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After traveling to Sorting factory in search of some food, their plans gets changed to a short trip to the geyser for some steamy relaxation.

Chapter 6: Pinky Promise

It was so hard to walk in the beaming sun with little to no food or water in her system. Renee felt like her feet weighed 70 pounds as she drug herself along through Fuel Depot. Natalie wasn’t doing any better, she had tied her coat around her waist and kept her hood pulled off her head, Outside of Capitol City it actually grew quiet warm. The icy winds didn’t quiet reach out this far so the sun kept the environment nice and toasty. 

“Almost there, just through this mountain and up the hill.” Natalie encouraged as the two walked through the curved pass that gutted through the rock. Renee sighed at the comment, hardly having the energy to reply. It was mid morning now, closer to noon. The girl’s walk took them a bit longer than they liked due to a mix up in directions. Their maps didn’t work after all and it can be easy to get lost in all the twisted routes and paths of the arena. Fortunately, they were getting closer and closer with every step to their destination, Sorting Factory.

They trekked through the tunnel, up the hill and straight to the entrance of the train station. Both women sat down on the jump tower base to catch their breath and rest their feet. Renee felt sick. Dehydration was a major downer. She huffed and tried to relax so she wouldn’t either pass out or throw up what little was left in her. It had easily been 24 hours now since either of them had a meal and both women were feeling it hard. 

“We can keep going, we just need to find the food storage.” Natalie said looking to Renee and seeing how ill she was getting from fatigue. 

“Yeah.... alright.” The skirmisher said standing to her feet again. She stood a little too fast however and lost some of her vision causing her to stubble a bit.

“Hey, carful!” Natalie said standing to her own feet and reaching out to Renee to help keep her up. “Are you alright? Here sit back down.” 

“I’m fine...” Renee said putting her hand to her head. “Just don’t have anything in my system. I’m running on fumes.” Renee pulled herself together and shook her head, “I’m good now. Let’s go.” Natalie nodded and led the way. She wasn’t too familiar with the factory, but she had an idea of where everything was. Just past the train station was a whole unit for storing everything any anything. 

“This is our best bet. I sure hope we find...we’ll, anything here.” Natalie pushed open the doors to the facility and started walking down the curve building. The building had loot and boxes scattered everywhere. Some boxes were massive, double the size of the loot bins and others were so small you could carry them with one arm. “Food should be in wooden boxes, the artillery and other items for the arena as in metal ones.” The blonde explained as the two of them scanned the rooms. 

Things were starting to look grim, no wooden boxes could be found and the boxes they did force open were full of useless items to them, nothing but ammo, Hop-ups, shield batteries, and other battle attire. Nothing consumable or worth substance value. It had come to a point where Renee was just ripping open every box and package in sight. The factory was quickly turned upside down by the two desperate to find anything to fill their stomachs. 

“This is useless!” Renee growled slamming her hand down on to a metal crate. Renee was seconds away from calling defeat, when the voices called to her. 

_“There! Outside! Look!”_

Renee sucked up her frustrated and glanced out one of the window in the factory. There, stacked up next to one of the storage units, was the wooden boxes that met Natalie’s descriptions. “Hey what about there?” She said directing Natalie’s attention to them. The blonde beamed when she saw the crates and gave her hands a clap! 

“Oh perfect! I bet those are our crates!” The two ran outside straight to the stacked boxes. Natalie tried to peak in through the crates cracks to see what maybe inside, Renee, had a different approach. The skirmisher climb atop of them and using her Kunai, she easily prayed it open. She ripped the lid off one of the top crates, and her eyes lit up at the sight. 

“Anything useful?” Natalie asked calling up to her. Renee then hopped off the crates and landed on the ground. The void runner then kicked the stacks of crates over causing them to fall and their contents to spill. Boxes and boxes of different fruits and vegetables scattered onto the concrete. Natalie gasped and laughed with glee. 

“Thank God!” She called as she ran over to Renee and squeezed her tight! “Finally something for our bellies!” The blonde giggled with joy, hugging to Renee. Renee didn’t know what to think of the contact but she couldn’t fight off a smile. The raven-haired woman hugged in return. The reality of the situation hit Natalie once Renee hugged her back. Renee hugged her? She’d never seen Renee even shake hands with others, let alone hug them. 

After the moments joy was spent, the two pulled away with a slightly awkward chuckle but were too distracted by thedelectable food before them, to let it skin too far. “Well, food’s covered, but what about water?” 

“They store water in gallon sized jugs. I’ve seen them before!” Natalie tried her best to remember where she had saw them, she sat and pondered for a moment before it hit her. “Oh! Inside! She said motioning to the storage unit. Usually these units are refrigerated, but with no power this stuff will start going bad, if it hasn’t already.” Natalie pulled the large metal door to the unit open and a faint cool breeze escaped. Most of the unit was still chilled, so the contents inside remains good for consumption.

“I was sure this stuff would have been bad by now!”

“Let’s get what we can, then!” Renee chimed in as the two stepped into the Unit and began sorting through what they could take with them. Sure enough, in the back were large gallon jugs of water. They would be hard to carry but they needed to take plenty of water with them. Therefore, the girls loaded their packs full of water and food, before taking a seat in the shade of one of the large cranes in the yard, and enjoying a much deserved meal. Natalie happily snacked on her third serving of oranges as Renee sat next to her resting her head against the large machine. 

With a hearty sigh Natalie sat back with, mimicking Renee slightly. “Ah, I don’t think I could eat anymore! A good problem to have.” She chuckled glancing to her comrade.

“Very much so!” Renee’s energy had returned to her and she was in a much more pleasant mood, flashing the blonde a smile. By now, afternoon had set and evening would be there before they knew it. While their mission for finding food was successful, there was still things Natalie wanted to dig around for, but for the moment, just enjoying the peace was too sweet of an opportunity to miss. 

Renee could have easily fallen asleep there, her stomach being full mixed with the comfortable weather, was far too relaxing. Relaxing? Renee, the ever sharp and on edge Wraith, was relaxing? Even when she was back at the dorms and taking time off from the games, Renee still stood on her toes and kept taking things a little too seriously. It had just become part of who she was. With the voices in her head constantly yelling at her a million possibilities, she couldn’t find peace in herself. So it was rare to find her in such a zen state. 

A soft breeze blew by carrying both girls hair with it. A refreshing lush scent of nature filled the air pulling a hum out of Natalie followed by a smile. “You almost forget how calm things can be! I miss moments like this, you know?” She said turning to Renee. “Moments where you can just be alive and breathe. No bloody fighting, no arguing, no tense missions, no objectives. Just enjoy the moment.” Renee opened her eyes and glanced back to her.

“Yup. It’s a nice change in mood here.” She took in a large breath then sighed. She looked off and thought for a moment before speaking again. “I think, I would have been in big trouble if I was stuck here with anyone else.” 

“Oh? And what makes you say that?”

“Well, for starters, no one else knows these Arenas like you. You really know your way around them. Also, you’re super smart! You know about all this tech, what to do with in, and how to make it work. I can’t even begin to understand that stuff. It’s really impressive. I would have been big time screwed if it wasn’t for you.” Renee drifted her sight back to Natalie then rose her eyebrows to see the expression on the blondes face. Natalie looked to her with big soft blue eyes and very noticeable rosy cheeks. Her lips curled into a genuine smile as she pulled her hands over them. Renee, seeing Natalie’s face flushed, caused her to break out into a blush herself. “W-What’s with that look?” She asked raising a brow to her. 

Natalie gave a small giggle before pulling her hands away to speak,“You don’t mean all that.”

“What? Of course I do! I mean can you imagine if I was stuck here with anyone else? Mirage wouldn’t have any clue what he was doing! I’d have to drag him everywhere. Me and lifeline would just argue. Bangalore would be helpful but just as clueless about how stuff worked as I am. Pathfinder wouldn’t even know how to help or understand human substance!” Renee found herself giving a small chuckle at the thought of trying to work with anyone else before continuing, “Yeah...I guess I’m lucky to be stuck here with someone who knows what they are doing.” Nothing but honesty left Renee’s lips. Natalie was beyond flattered and couldn’t hide her smile or flushed face. 

“Well, I appreciate that, Renee. So much!” Natalie nodded and smiled to her. “That’s very sweet of you to say.”

“Of course.” A smile was returned to Natalie. A brief moment of silence fell between the two, as their soft looks in each other’s direction, quickly turned...awkward? A sheepish chuckled was shared by the two of them, as they broke eye contact and looked different directions. 

“Ah, maybe we should get back to gathering supplies. We only have so much day light left after all.” Natalie mentioned running her fingers through a stand of her hair. 

“Sounds good. We probably should keeping going.” Renee then stood and dusted herself off, though her mind wandered. Strange, where did that spark of awkward come from? It was like looking at Natalie felt weird. Like, Renee wanted to look at her but didn’t want to stare? And when she did look, it was hard to look directly at her. Maybe complimenting her was a bad idea? It was just honesty. Renee shook her head and thoughts away. “Why don’t we check some of those large metal crates over by the gate and train tracks?” Renee suggested motioning towards them. 

“We could give them a look. Who knows what we might find.” Natalie agreed and stood up herself. The awkwardness left them as quickly as it settle. Renee still wondered where it stemmed from. It lingered in the back of her head as the two walked.

Checking the metal crates next to the tracks was definitely worth their while. Most of the crates had the same artillery supplies that the rest of the factory had, but there where a few diamond in the rough they found. Renee found a crate that was full of instant noodle cups, perfect to keep on had and won’t go bad!They around found a crate that was full of bags of candy. Not what they need but, hey, a nice treat. As they searched the boxes a flash of white caught Natalie’s eye. She turned head to see the large geyser off in the distance burst up into the air. Her eyes lit up with a large grin. 

“Renee! We should head down to the geyser!” Natalie said looking up to the skirmisher as she stood atop of the crates. 

“The geyser?” Renee pulled the top off another crate and toss it to the ground. “What for?” 

“Ah, well...maybe there’s something there we could use?” Natalie shrugged. She actually had other plans in mind besides just digging around for supplies, but wasn’t sure if Renee would be down for it. Renee hopped down not finding anything of use and walked over to the gate, getting a nice view over the geyser. 

“Im not sure how long we can stick around here, it will start getting dark sooner than we think.” Renee crosses her arms as she turned to look at Natalie. 

“I know, but it won’t hurt to look. Besides I don’t see the harm in setting up a camp somewhere else tonight and head back to the solar panels in the morning.” Renee frowned at those words.

“Just how long do you plan on sticking around here? I’d like to get out ASAP.” Natalie was taken back by the change in Renee’s tone. It was offended and stung the way she spoke. 

“I see what you mean, but you can’t rush this stuff, Renee. Plus what are we in a hurry for now? We have food, water, and shelter anywhere! I’d say we take our time with all this.” Natalie explained as she walked to the gate and climbed over it. “C’mon, let’s see what’s down here.” Renee didn’t reply, but she kept the bitter frown on her lips. She didn’t want to go down there, she didn’t want to be here. She wanted to get back to the dorms and get back on schedule. All this nonsense was really going to kill her vibe and routine. She won’t be able to play right in the games for weeks. She groaned and followed Natalie, not wanting to verbally argue about it right now. 

The short walk to geyser was met with humidity in the air and a misty breeze about the area. It was refreshing and more tolerable then the chill of Capitol City or sweltering heat of Thermal station. Natalie took in a deep breath through her nostrils and smiled. “I loveeee that scent!” She swooned over the refreshing smell of wild water. Renee stayed silent still not thrilled to be coming down this far, but had to admit, it was refreshing. “I love coming here! It’s always a nice change in scenery!” The blonde chuckled. 

“Let’s just see what we can scape up from these houses.” Renee’s blunt attitude made Natalie purse her lips and arch her brows. Renee didn’t have to be such a sour-puss about this. Natalie wanted to get out of here too, but being in a rush or stressed about it, certainly wouldn’t help anything. Renee went straight into the dome houses and begun digging through drawers, closets, boxes, and everything. Natalie followed behind looking as well, but was obviously more distracted by the environment. She was constantly looking out the windows and slowly inching herself closer to the waters edge. She desperately wanted to me dip her feet into the geysers warm water. Oh, how it would soothe her aching feet. Peeking over her shoulder, Renee was busy pulling everything out of a desk drawer, so she took this opportunity to slip outside. 

The mist from the geyser kept the area around it nice and wet. The water itselfwas hot from the heat of the geyser and emitted a steam into the air. The sight itself caused Natalie to release a romanticsigh. Walking to the waters edge, she knelt down onto her knees and felt the waters temperature with her fingers. The warmth sent a shiver down her spine and curled her lips into a smile. She checked over her shoulder once more, looking back to see if Renee had followed her out. Of course she didn’t. Natalie then took her shoes off, along with her socks, and left them on the ground and she sat on the edge of the pool of steaming water. 

The pool wasn’t deep but more shallow enough for one to sit in it. Dipping one toe in drew a blissful hum from her, and the rest of her foot followed right after, along with the second. The hot water eased tense muscles and relaxed the younger woman. The warmth was so pleasant on her feet, it felt just like bath water, but a little warmer. That wasn’t an issue for her though, Natalie found it so pleasant. A thought then came into her head that cause her to chuckle, but the more she thought on it, the better it sounded. Natalie bit her bottom lip as she looked into the steaming water. “Screw it!” She chirped with a giddy laughter. 

The rooms were torn apart and items were scattered everywhere as Renee continued to dig through the dome homes. She had found a few things that might be useful too them, while the power was still out. Renee had found some large pillar candles, pillows, bottles of water (instead of the gallons), larger blankets, and a bunch of books, Renee wasn’t a big reader, but she figured the pages would be useful to use for staring campfires. As she continued to dig, she could clearly hear Natalie chuckling and giggling to herself outside. She tried to ignore it at first but her laughter only grew. Renee finally rolled her eyes and peaked out the window, her jaw dropped at the sight.

“Just what on earth are you doing!” Renee yelled bursting through the door, arms full of the supplies she had gathered. Natalie sat sunken in the warm water, shoulders just barley above the water’s surface. “Have you lost your mind?” 

“Maybe!” Natalie replied swimming to the edge and placing her arms over the side to keep herself afloat. “You should join! The water is sooooo nice!” She purred looking up to her comrade. 

“Natalie! We don’t have time for these-“ once Renee had gotten close enough, she had noticed that Natalie was completely nude in the water. The blonde had stripped all her clothes and left them neatly folded on the waters edge. “Why are you naked!” Renee questioned, pulling her eyes away. 

“What? You think I can swim with all that on! Please, that wouldn’t be very comfy or smart since it’s my only outfit and all.” She chuckled playfully. “Don’t tell me you get shy when you see a little extra skink.” Natalie teased giving her a smirk. Renee frowned to her and shook her head. 

“Natalie. This is a huge waist of time!” 

“Is it though?” The blonde argued. “We are stuck here! Why not enjoy ourselves? Why should we be pressured on leaving now? What’s the point in stressing to leave?” 

“I don’t want to be stuck here!”

“You think I do? I’m trying to make the best of the worst situation here! All you’re doing is rushing me and yourself. Learn to take it easy for a second, Renee.” Natalie groaned and sunk into the water once again, allowing herself to sink up to her nose, poking her head from the water like a crocodile. 

“You take it easy and you get killed or hurt! You can’t just let your guard down and fool around.” Renee stomped

“What do you think this is? We are not in a match and no one else is here! Just you and me! Why not make the best of it?” Natalie frowned. “I’m trying to enjoy this advantage we have here. You should too.” Natalie glared at Renee with a pout. Renee stared back for a moment before breaking eye contact. What she was saying was true. It was just the two of them there. Why was she so paranoid and trying so hard to leave? Of course she wanted to get back to the dorms and properly rest, but what good was it rushing or stressing about it. Renee bit her lip and groaned. 

“So your way of taking advantage of things is skinny dipping?” Renee asked raising a brow to her and placing the item as she had found onto the ground.

“Oh, don’t knock it before you try it. This is incredible.” Natalie hummed romantically with a smile, “you should join. Maybe it will fix your bitter mood.” Natalie teased. Renee wasn’t fond of the idea, but she couldn’t lie to herself, that water looked great! She turned her head to check the ‘time.’ The sky was begging to emit a soft orange as the sun was starting to set. It would soon be dark. 

“And how do you expect to get back before dark?” Renee returned to asked Natalie as she crossed her arms. 

“Why not camp here tonight? The dome houses look cozy, yeah? We could just crash here.” Renee thought in silence for a second, chewing on her inner lip. “C’mon. You know you want too.” Natalie playfully hummed to the void runner with a smirk. With a sigh and an eye-roll, Renee took a few steps towards the water, grabbed her scarf and pulled it off in one swift motion. “That’s the spirit!” Natalie chuckled with a hand clap. Renee shook her head and mumbled to herself, grabbing the bottom of her shirt and pulling it over her head. The shirt hit the ground and Renee’s hesitation settled in. She was pretty much stripping in front of Natalie. She paused and thought a second before grabbing her belt and undoing it. She sat on the ground and begun undoing the straps on her boots when Renee noticed Natalie watching. 

“Ugh, can you not have your eyes glued to me?” She complained as she kicked her shoes off along with her socks. 

“Sorry, Sorry!” Natalie apologized throwing her hands up. “Didn’t realize you were so timid about showing some skin.” Natalie chuckled pulling a blushed frown out of Renee. 

“Just, look somewhere else!” She snapped. Natalie shrugged and turned around in the water. While she couldn’t see Renee, she could easily hear her pants drop and come off along with, what she assumed, was the sounds of Renee’s bra and panties being removed as well. She only turned around again once she heard Renee sink down into the water with a pleasant hiss. 

“God! It’s hot!” She groaned, but once she sank further into the water, she didn’t mind the water so much. The heat actually felt extremely nice against her skin and tense muscles. After adjusting to the waters temperature, Renee leaned back a bit, against the rocky edge of the water, and sighed. 

“It’s nice though, right? I feel a million times better.” Natalie purred as she sat across from the skirmisher. 

“Yeah. It’s not bad.” Renee gave a shrug. 

Natalie smiled. It was nice to Renee take it easy. She was always seemed on edge and never had a moment to breathe. She looked at ease as she rested in the water. 

“Oh! Look how pretty!” Natalie swam to the right side of the small pool and looked out to the sun setting over the arena. The sky was painted vibrant oranges, purples, and pinks, with scattered clouds picking up the colors. Natalie hummed and watched the sky darken as she pulled herself over the edge using her arms. She then laid her chin onto them as her eyes watched the marvelous colors of dusk settle. 

Renee turned to see the sight as well, however, her eyes were caught by something of more interest. Her previous thoughts were correct, Natalie’s Lichtenberg scar rode up her back, over to her right shoulder and up the back of her neck. It was odd but beautiful at the same time. It reminded Renee of a vine hugging to a tree. Natalie’s back and shoulders were also dotted with sweet freckles. Renee was visually connecting them like constellations. She was losing herself in this beautiful girl. Renee’s eyes were pulled away from Natalie’s figure when the blonde spoke up. 

“It really is beautiful here, a lot nicer than that dusty canyon.” Natalie chuckled, “but I can see why you want to get back. It’s quiet and lonely here.” Natalie let out a sigh but remained in place as she talked. “I’m not a big fan of the dead silence or emptiness. I love living in the dorms with the other legends because of the noise! It doesn’t matter what time of day, someone is either in the kitchen or in the lounge just, living, you know.” A smile curled on the blonde’s lips at the thought. “I want to get back too. But I don’t want to kill my self doing it. Let’s just take it one step at a time. The games aren’t going anywhere.” Natalie turned to smile to Renee. 

That damn smile. She wasn’t sure what it was, but when Natalie gave her that gentle smile it spiked a heat in her that shot straight up her spine to her ears. Renee cleared her throat and replied, “sounds fair. I’m not crazy about the quiet either. If it gets too quiet the voices in my head get louder and louder. It almost sounds like they are screaming in my ear. So I like being around the noisy dorms too, I guess.” She shrugged. It was nice to just chat with the younger girl. She was nice company. Renee then realized that they wouldn’t be having this nice moment if she would have continued to be a jerk like she was earlier. “Hey, sorry about my attitude. I was kinda being an ass.” She apologized. 

Natalie pulled herself away from the edge and swam next to her, “Yes, you were.” Renee raised her eyebrows slightly as she approached “I can think of a way for you to make up for it.” Natalie smirked

“Oh yeah?” Renee felt her face heat up. No way Natalie was suggesting what she thought she was. “And what would that be?” Natalie lowered her head and smiled, pulling her hand out of the water. She closed her fist and rose only her pinky finger out to Renee.

“Make a promise to me.” Renee rose an eyebrow at the gesture then looked to Natalie. “Oh don’t pretend you don’t know what this is.” Renee rolled her eyes and pulled her hand out of the steaming water, creating the same motion Natalie did. Their pinkies lock as Natalie told her the promise. “Promise me, that you will never feel alone or like nobody cares for you in this world and you will care for yourself better.”

“What? What’s this all about?” Renee asked tilting her head. 

“I know you haven’t directly told me or anything, but I picked up on it. “ the blonde frowned as she looked to Renee, “the way you distance yourself, the way you cover your problems, the way you put yourself in danger like you don’t matter... I’ve watched for a while and I had a feeling you were just tough and brave, but the more I watched the more I saw you just throw yourself to the wolves like you didn’t care.”

“I do that because I can. I’m not suicidal or anything, I just know my limits.”

“Yes, but that worries others, that worries me! I talked to lifeline one time about you and she said it was nothing short of a miracle that you get out of some of the situations you get yourself in. You can’t do that Renee. What if you get seriously hurt or worse!”

“Look, I can do this. I don’t exactly have a lot to live for anyways so I have this risk I can take and I always come out on top from it.” Renee shook her head and sighed, “you wouldn’t get it. You have a family, friends, and all that stuff. I have myself and the voices in my head.”

“But that’s not true! The legends, we are your friends! All of us...well...maybe not Dr. Caustic But, you know. And if no one else cares, I do!” Natalie took both her hands and cupped them around Renee’s. “So please stop treating yourself like you’re not worth anything! You’re worth something to us! You’re worth something to me!” Natalie looked dead into Renee’s teal eyes as she spoke. Never before has Renee heard someone say these things to her. She had accepted her fate as a lone soul and didn’t get attached to anything or anyone, but someone had gotten attached to her. Renee stayed silent, processing all of Natalie’s pure words before she spoke. 

“Okay...” Renee took her free hand and placed it over both of Natalie’s. “I promise, I’ll do better to care for myself. Just for you.” She nodded with a smile and a faint blush on her cheeks. Natalie sighed as if she were holding her breath. 

“Good! You can’t break a promise now.”

“You have my word.” Renee felt Natalie’s hands squeeze hers tighter at the words. The blonde smiled from ear to ear as she looked to the older woman. The gaze turned to a stare as both their eyes stayed locked on each other for, what would normally be, an uncomfortable amount of time. It wasn’t uncomfortable, was the thing, it felt okay and natural. She wanted to look at Natalie more, but her nerves got the best of her. Renee broke away from the eye contact and felt her whole body spike in heat, remembering they were both nude and now only inches apart. 

“Maybe we should get out, the waters getting a bit too hot for my taste.” She lied. 

“Sure, it’s dark now anyways, we should start up a fire somewhere before it gets too dark.” Natalie pulled away from the skirmisher and pulled herself back up onto the hard ground. Renee kept her eyes to herself, her thoughts were distracting her anyhow. Natalie then grabbed one of the blankets Renee brought out earlier, and used it as a towel, wrapping it around her chest as it covered the rest of her body. “C’mon, let’s see if we can get a fire going and we can cook some of those veggies before they go bad.”

“Yeah, right behind you.” Renee said in a much softer voice then usual. Renee felt her heart sinking. She knew something was wrong with her, but she didn’t dare admit it. Renee wanted her back, wanted to be close to her again. She liked the contact, she liked the touch, she liked the closeness. She liked Natalie. 

—————————————-

Greetings everyone!! ~~

Much longer chapter, I know but I wanted all of this together. Sorry it took a little longer to get out as well, been a little busy here. Anyways their relationship is starting to spark and I’m excited to take it further!

Thank you so much for reading!!


	7. Chapter 7: Braid between us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other legends form a plan to go and rescue the missing women as Dr. Caustic discovers there is no power in the arena. Meanwhile, before returning to Natalie’s pylon, the two girls take a moment and just relax as Natalie’s gives Renee’s hair a little braid. Renee, of course, enjoys it too much.

Chapter 7: Braid between us

The sunset grew into pitch black night as Renee and Natalie began to bundle up for the night. They had both finally dried off from their little swim session and were back, fully clothed. To Natalie this was a comfortable evening. She had a full stomach, warm bedding, and a peaceful environment around her. This was almost like a little vacation to her. Renee was different, however. She wanted to return home and get back into a routine of things. She did best when she was on a schedule and stuck to it. She wasn’t fond of sticking around here this long but, she tolerated it. 

Renee also had come to discover something about herself. She had grown quiet fond of Natalie in their time alone together. She got to see more of this fascinating girl and she admired her. Natalie was smart, optimistic, willing to take a challenge, and she had a nice figure as well. Renee didn’t want to admit it, but she was coming to like Natalie a little too much. She disliked this for multiple reasons. One, being she couldn’t even date Natalie happily if she wanted to. The Games had strict rules of no inner-relationships with other legends. This was to keep matches fair and balanced for all. Second, Renee wasn’t looking for a relationship. She had an objective for her life and it was to find out who she use to be. She wasn’t interested in starting a new life or bonding with others. Her main goal was to find out who she use to be and Natalie, unfortunately would only get in her way of doing that. Besides, who would like a freak of nature like her? She was seen as crazy by others and figured no one wanted to giver her the time of day, anyways. So, Renee would fight off these feelings. She wouldn’t let them get the best of her, not when she had so much else in mind. 

Renee couldn’t lie to herself, however, Natalie was pleasant to be around. Her company was cozy and caring. Her touch, tough Renee had little of it, was gentle and warm. Natalie would make such a precious partner. Unfortunately, Renee couldn’t let that happen. Maybe in another space and time, there was something more between them, maybe even a future together, but not here. 

The blonde sat across from Renee on her home-made bed, made up of blankets and pillows on the floor, and yawned. “I needed all this, this evening. The nice dip, the warm veggies, all of it!” She grabbed a blanket and threw it around her back bundling up as she looks to Renee. “It looks like you enjoyed yourself as well, you seem more at ease.”

“Well, the swim was a nice mood changer for sure. And having a full stomach helps improve any mood.” Renee shrugged, “but this was a nice way to end the day.” The skirmisher grabbed her blanket and simply threw it over herself as she leaned against the wall her bedding was up against. 

“Well, good news, we just might be heading home tomorrow. If my pylon charged off the solar panels, it should have gathered plenty of electricity to start up one of the beacons again. We will be calling a drop ship for us by noon tomorrow.” Natalie spoke with confidence in her plan. She trusted her wits to get them both back safely. 

Renee sighed at those words. “Great! I can’t wait to get back and take an actual shower and changed these outfits.” 

“I know, right! Ah, some comfy pajamas would really hit the spot right now.” Natalie hummed. Renee smiled at the thought of seeing Natalie in her PJs. She’s seen them before. Natalie’s favorite pair was a light blue tank-top that had matching shorts with yellow ducks on them. They were too cute and fit her figure well. Before, Renee could dream too sweetly about her, she snapped herself out of it. She can’t think about Natalie like that. It was way too distracting 

“Mm, yeah.” Renee chimed in to try and change the subject. “Well, we will see how things go tomorrow. Hopefully it will go over smoothly.”

“Hopefully.” Natalie half yawned before grabbing her pillow and laying it behind her. “Well the more sleep, the better.” Natalie pulled her blanket off her back and threw it over her body as she laid down, “good night, Renee.” 

“Yeah, night.” Just like that Natalie was out. Renee was almost jealous of Natalie’s talent to fall asleep instantly. Renee knew she’s be up for a few more hours so she decided to sit outside in the fresh air. Renee climbed to the roof of the dome homes and sat there with her blanket. She watched the geyser spray away in the darkness as she thought to herself. Things would go back to normal once they get back to the dorms. Both girls would go back to their normal lives and Renee could continue her main objective. But did she really want things to go back to the way they were? Well, yes she did, but here, she had grown feeling for Natalie , feelings she would carry back with her, no doubt. Once she was back in the dorms, she doubted she’d ever have a chance to really be with Natalie. She wanted to grow more close to her despite Renee knowing she couldn’t. If they got back there was no chance of them to hit it off. 

Renee dug her fingers into her hair and groaned. These feelings were so complicated. She hated having them. She wanted to have a chance with Natalie but she also didn’t. She figured the best way to get over this, is to just simply take it no where. Keep her feelings and thoughts to herself. Natalie wouldn’t like her anyways. It was stupid to think she would. Renee laid back on the hard roof and looked up into the sky. The stars shown much better tonight then they did the previous evening. She connected the stars like she did with the freckles on Natalie’s back. Her eyes eventually began to droop the longer she stared into the sky. They finally had gotten too heavy for her to keep open, and Renee drifted off to sleep. 

____________________________

“Alright ladies! It’s been almost 48 hours since anyone has seen Natalie or Renee. Now, if anyone has seen even the smallest sign or them, they need to speak up! They are AWOL and this is getting serious!” Anita slammer her fits on the round table as the other legends looked to her. Anita had noted the girls missing when Elliott had brought it up with her and Bloodhound. Their absence had not gone unnoticed and Anita began to worry about the fellow teammates. Therefore, she had gathered the remaining legends up for a meeting to discuss where they could have possibly gone.

“The last we saw of them was in the arena, two whole days ago. They were the champions of that game, then they suddenly vanished. Did they make it back to the dorms or does anyone know!” The legends look amongst themselves in silence, as no one peeped a word. Anita gave a frustrated groan before using her fingers to squeeze the skin between her eyebrows. 

“I think we were the last to see them, Anita.” Ajay spoke up before blowing a bubble of gum then popping it with her teeth. “We saw them last before they won and that’s it. I really don’t think they made it back.” 

“Impossible. The drop ships are prompt and reliable. They should have picked them up within less than 10 minuets of its calling.” Anita explained. Before she could go into further detail, Dr. Caustic entered the room with a laptop in hand. 

“I believe I have some, riveting evidence of where our missing comrades could be.” Caustic brought the laptop to Anita and sat it before her. “What I have here is an electrical field map, that tracks the flow of electricity through certain areas and locations.” His raspy voice explained further as he pointed to a location on the map that was yellow and orange with hints of red. “These colored spots track where they most electrical activity is taking place. Yellow is mild, orange is Normal, and red is above average.” 

“So what does this have to do with anything?” Anita asked crossing her arms. 

“This specific area, is our dormitories. And it maps out the usage of electricity to a ‘T’. Now, look here.” Caustic typed in a location code and it pulled up the world’s edge arena. The map was completely black. “No signs of electrical impulse or usage in the entire arena.” 

“Holy- So no power is in the entire arena?” Anita asked getting a bit closer to the laptop to get a better look. 

“That is correct. Suspicious, isn’t it. First the canyon, now this distant planet. This seems to be an intentional accident. Not only that, I believe the two missing persons are trapped here. The drop ships cannot communicate with the beacons if they are powered down, of course.”

“You’re telling me these poor girls have been stuck in that gauntlet for two days now?”

“I believe that to be the case, yes. You will be luck to find girls there, rather than dehydrated corpses.” Caustic’s haunting words sent a chill down Anita’s back. 

“Mother fucker...” Anita growled under her breath. “Alright! Listen up! We are going on a rescue mission! Renee and Natalie need us ASAP so get yourselves together and let’s get these girls out!”

“Wait! Whoa, whoa, so you’re just going to pack up and go looking for them now?” Elliott argued as she stood up. “Like, I’m super worried about them too, but shouldn’t we, like alert authorities about this or something?”

“It’s now or never, solider. These girls have been stuck there with little food or water! Wouldn’t you want to know your teammates and friends were on their way to help you, if that was your ass down there?” Anita snarled back as she started making her way to load up an air ship. “Let’s go, ladies!”

“Oh boy... this has fishy all over it.” Elliot grumbled to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck and followed. 

___________________________________

Renee’s sweet Slumber was interrupted by quiet a delicious scent. Renee, in her sleepy state couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it smelt delicious. Her eyes finally cracked open as she grumbled and squirmed a bit, trying to decide if she really wanted to get up or not. She decided she would after her stomach let out a hungered grumble. She sat up and stretched feeling her hair fall out of its bun. That wasn’t uncommon after a nice restful sleep. She then realized she was still on the roof of the house where she had passed out the night prior. The sound of the metal door below her caught her attention and she looked down to see Natalie, dressed and walking out of the building. Renee raised an eyebrow to her as she watched the blonde start off. 

“Where are you off to?” Renee asked causing Natalie to jump and turn around. 

“There you are!”

She cried out. “I looked everywhere for you!” Natalie smiled seeing Renee again, but she smile quickly faded to an angered frown. “Where did you go! I got worried!” 

“I didn’t go anywhere, I’ve be- Wait.” Renee felt her cheeks heat to Natalie’s words. “You worried about me?” 

“What! Of course I did! I thought you left!” Natalie stomped her foot and continued, “I thought you left me alone here! I looked all over for you. I assumed you... you found me annoying or that I got in your way. So you left to get out of here on your own.” Natalie looked down and sighed. “I really thought you’d left...” Renee’s heart sunk into her stomach. 

“No! No! No!” The void runner hopped from the roof of the building and walked towards the blonde. “I could never think that of you or do that to you.” Renee hesitated for a moment, but then lifted Natalie’s chin up with her hand. “I don’t think that of you at all.” 

Natalie signed and nodded, “I know that, my head sometimes makes me think otherwise. I had a run in with some pretty bitter people in my life, so I’m sensitive to abandonment and people leaving me behind. And with the recent passing of my Papa-“

“Hey! don’t you worry about that stuff, okay? Don’t you think for a second I’m leaving you behind here. We are a team in this, so we stick together. Got it?” Renee asked looking dead into Natalie’s eyes. Natalie’s cheeks flushed slightly both from the words and the intense eye contact. She could look at Renee and knew she genuinely meant her words. 

“I... um... yes! I understand.” She couldn’t hold back a smile as she continued, “thank you, so much, Renee. That...that means the world to me.” Renee smiled in return, glad to see Natalie returning back to herself again. 

“Say, you never answered me. Where were you going?”

“Well, I was heading out to either find you or get back to my pylon. I couldn’t just sit here and sulk about you leaving. So I figured I’d either fix up a beacon myself, or go looking for you.” Natalie shrugged, “but I’m so happy you stayed!” The blonde nodded with a smile. 

“You would have come looking for me?” Renee questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Huh...” Renee didn’t know how to respond to that. Natalie was willing to go looking for her. What did THAT mean? 

“I certainly would have. I was worried that maybe you weren’t well or something was bothering you, but I also worried it was because of me.” Natalie shifted uncontrollably as she explained.

“Well, it was neither. I’ve just been here.” Renee sheepishly chuckled. “Sorry for making you worry.” Her hand started to move on its own. It wanted to cup Natalie’s uniquely scared cheek, but her hesitant thoughts moved it to give a friendly nudge on the shoulder instead.

“It’s alright. Just glad you’re safe. Oh! Yeah...” Natalie turned and started heading into the house, “I made some breakfast if you’re hungry.”

_ “So that’s what smelt so good!” _

“Ah, sure.” Renee shrugged as she followed the younger girl inside. “What’cha serving?” Natalie walked over to a bowl that was setting out on one of the night stands, in the room they (or at least Natalie) slept in the night before. She picked it up and brought it too Renee. 

“Here you are. I know it’s not formal breakfast but it’s warm and will fill your belly.” Renee took the bowl and looked down into it.

“Instant-Ramen for breakfast?” Renee chuckled giving her a puzzled look. 

“I don’t exactly have the means of making a dozen flapjacks, with sweet ham, or sunny side-up eggs, do I?” Natalie teased. 

“Fair enough.” Renee shrugged as she sat on her home made bed on the floor. Natalie sat across from her, as she dug down into a colorful cardboard box. “So how did you make this?”

“Oh easy, I started up a fire outside, boiled some water in a pot o found, to clean it and the water, then tossed the noodles and seasoning in with it.” 

“Hm, nice” Renee nodded as she blew the still hot noodles to cool them off. 

“This is for after you eat.” The electrician said as she pulled her hand out of the box and tossed Renee a peanut butter candy bar. With a swift hand, Renee easily caught it and sat it down next to her. “Now you can’t eat dessert until after you eat your breakfast.” She playfully demanded as she grabbed her own bar. 

“Yeah yeah” Renee smiled as she grabbed her forks and twirled some noodles up into it. It was nothing special just some generic beef instant noodles. They were warm and filling, just like Natalie said they were. Nice treat, plus it wasn’t a bad taste either. As she took another bite, she looked up and noticed Natalie was staring at her? Renee at first tried to ignore it but every time she looked up, Natalie was looking back at her. “Um... what? Something on my face?” Renee asked wiping around her mouth just in case she had a stray noodle hanging from her chin. 

“Hm... OH! No, sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.” Natalie giggled with a hint of embarrassment, “I was just admiring how pretty your hair is.”

Renee swallowed her food down hard at those words, “my what now...” 

“Your hair. It’s so long and pretty. I never get to see it down like this.” Renee then realized her hair wasn’t in its normally tied up bun. She groaned and sat her almost empty bowl down to then start pulling her hair back. 

“I don’t like keeping it down, it gets in my way.” Renee grumbled as she started to pull it up. She was quickly stoped by Natalie’s words.

“Wait! You should keep it down. I mean, we aren’t in combat or anything, it’s just us. Plus, you look so good with it down. It so long and healthy.” Renee could feel her face heat up from the compliments. 

“Gee....thanks?” Renee slowly let go of her hair and let it fall back down, “I’m still not crazy about it being down and all around my face like this.” 

“You should just braid it then.” 

“Ah, I can’t. I don’t know how anyone can braid their own hair. I can’t exactly see what I’m doing to do it right.” Renee shrugged blowing a stand of hair out of her face.

“Let me then.” Natalie hopped up from her bedding and walked over to Renee. 

“Oh! No you don’t hav-“ before she could even finish her statement, Natalie had already sat herself behind her and gave her knuckles a crack. Renee went stiff as she felt Natalie behind her. Her heart skipped a beat and by reflex, she sucked in a light breath at the sound of her knuckles popping. Natalie then careful ran her fingers from Renee’s scalp down the length of her hair, gently grooming through it. 

“This would probably be easier to do if I had a brush of some sort, but your hair is so smooth, doubt we’d need one.” Natalie nodded as her fingers graced though Renee’s raven hair slowly and soothingly. Renee couldn’t reply, each time Natalie ran her fingers through her hair cause her to lose her breath. Her touch was so gentle, it stirred Renee’s heart. Renee’s teeth sunk into her bottom lip to keep herself quiet. Soothed sighs and moans wanted badly to escape, but she held them back. 

After sifting and sorting through her hair, Natalie began sectioning out pieces to bind over each other into a braid. The light tugs on her hair were nothing but pleasant and the feeling of it being folded over and over sent chills down Renee’s spine. She swore she had died in that moment and was being pampered in heaven. Her breathing was slowed, her head was light, her body weightless. What kind of power did Natalie have over her?

The blissful contact came to an end, when Natalie braided the final stand of Rene’s hair. “There, all done.” Natalie smiled as she ran her hand over the full braid. “Your hair braids so nicely, I’m almost jealous.” 

Renee was still coming down from her high when she forced a reply, “oh... yeah?” She dreamily replied, “well, thank you. I’m glad you like it. Maybe, I’ll keep it down more.” She defiantly would in hopes of getting this heavenly treatment again. 

“Mm, I wish my hair would grow out to be as pretty as yours. Mine gets spit-ends easily and just becomes a mess. That’s why I keep it short, it easier to handle.” Natalie shrugged, she then stood up and walked back to her things. The second she left, Renee craved that contact again. She already missed that gentle touch and the subtle feeling for Natalie’s breath grazing the hairs on her neck. “Well, should we get going? I’m excited to see how my pylon’s done.” 

Renee could have easily fell back asleep, but this was for the best. “Yeah, let’s head out.” She groaned as she stood up. “I’m ready to get out of here.” 

“Same here.” Natalie replied as she gathered up her stuff into her backpack. “I wonder what the others are up to, or if they have even noticed we are gone.” 

“I’m sure they have. At least, I hope they have.” Renee grumbled under her breath packing her things away as well. 

Once all their belongings were packed back up, the two both grabbed a candy bar for the road and set back off to their original camp sight, back near Train Yard. Renee had become much more conversational around Natalie. She would ask questions, talk about Natalie’s interest, and bring up electrical stuff Renee normally wouldn’t care about. It was different, more different than how Renee usually acted, but Natalie didn’t mind, she actually was coming to like it a lot. She found Renee’s trying conversations sweet, very appealing, and a little attractive. 

—————————————-

Greetings everyone! ~~~

Can you tell I have a thing for hair play! Talk about setting in some sensual fluff. I imagine Renee’s hair to be so beautiful down, smooth and flawless. 

She’s nothing but perfect! 

Anyways I hope you enjoyed! 

Thank you so much for reading!!


	8. Chapter 8: Cheesecake and Heartache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a small chit-chat about some of their favorite treats, on the way back to their original campsite, Natalie and Renee find that they might have a bigger chance of getting home, until things take an unfortunate turn.

Chapter 8: Cheesecake and Heartache

She pushed a strand of golden hair back away from her face from the light breeze that blown the lock from its place. Natalie kept her eyes forward but her lips busy with sweet chatter, as she and Renee trotted their way back to their original campsite outside of Train Yard. The two were engaging in small talk to occupy their lengthy walk and both were throughly enjoying each other’s talk. Renee had a thirst to know more about this genius of a girl, and she found the best way to know her better was to simply talk with her. Natalie enjoyed talking of herself and her interest, there weren’t many, after all, that fancied her hunger of electricity. She was also a quiet girl and a bit of an introvert, so talking wasn’t her best attribute, but this small conversation with Renee was smooth, and fluent. It didn’t feel forced or awkward, just harmonious chatter.

The warmth they had found at the geyser had begun to shift into chilly air as they were returning to their campsite. Natalie found herself putting her coat back on to keep her cozy but Renee remained content in the chilled air. Once arriving in Train Yard, Natalie had noticed how quiet Renee was being about herself. Renee was making all their conversations about her and her interest. Natalie didn’t want to be rude and make all their talk about herself, plus she herself was curious about Renee. 

“What about you?” Natalie chimed in, “We’ve been talking so much about me all this time. what’s somethings you enjoy? I don’t get too see much of you outside of the arena, so what do you do with your free time?” Natalie asked as she toyed with her fingers.

Renee looked to the blonde then looked to the ground, “Ah... what is there to say really? What you see if what you get with me.” Renee shrugged, “I don’t even know that much about myself really. All I can tell you is, I’m Renee Blasey and I have voices in my head.” Renee joked but in reality, it was the truth. There wasn’t much to Renee or at least this version of her. Maybe there were more interesting Renee’s in deferent dimensions, but in this one, she was pretty much Vanilla.

“Oh, there has to be more than that. Come on, what are the things you like, let’s start with that.” 

_ “You like her~” _

Renee gritted her teeth and felt a flash of heat in her cheeks. The voices in her head were becoming less and less helpful and more and more annoying. They equally knew how Renee felt and they weren’t above teasing her on it.

“Uhhhh... Well, I like...” Renee glanced at Natalie who patently looked back waiting for an answer, “food?” Renee poorly lied giving a sheepish grin and a shrug. “I-ugh... I don’t know.” Natalie giggled and nodded. 

“Food is certainly something to like, Cherie.” Renee gave her a confused look as Natalie continued, “I know I could just much away on sweets, but I’d like to keep my figure and fit into my suit so...” Natalie shrugged confessing, “I noticed you take a liking to the strawberry cheese cake the cafeteria serves.” Renee looked to her and blushed slightly, shaking her head a little embarrassed that Natalie knew better than she knew herself. 

“You noticed, huh? How’s that?” 

“Every time they serve it I always see you with some. Never thought you’d be one to like sweets.” Natalie explained as she looked down as her hands still toying around with them.

“Well, it’s the only sweets I really like.” Renee said slipping her hands into her pants pockets as they walked. 

“Well, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for some when we return. I find it delicious myself. Oh hey!” Natalies gaze returned to the void walkers, “Maybe we could run by a pastry shop once we get back and grab us both something nice.” She suggest giving Renee the sweetest, most darling of a smile she’d ever seen. 

“Oh, sure that would be nice.” Renee returned a gentle smile holding back the will to fawn over Natalie’s adorable grin. Then it hit her. “Wait! Like go out together?” She noticeably flushed, “Or with a group? Or just the two of us...or....” Did Natalie suggest the two go out and spend time together...ALONE? Or was did she have something else in mind? Many she was thinking to much into this. Or maybe...

“We can bring others if you like.” Natalie nodded, “Anita might come, She won’t admit it, but I know for a fact she has a weak spot of chocolate cake. Oh, and I’m sure Elliott would love to join us as well. He’s too much of an extrovert to turn down outings.” Natalie chuckled as Renee bit her lip and nodded, 

“Mmmm, yeah that would be...just great.” Wonderful. so the “date” Renee had imagine them going on now had Anita and Elliott joining now. 

“Nice going Renee. You ruined the date before it even fabricated.” Renee smacked herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand and groaned to herself. She needs to learn to keep her cool better and think before she said things. This stupid crush she had was turning burdensome and making her look like a fool. Besides, she felt it was dumb of her to think that Natalie would ask her out. “Yeah, what was I thinking.” She grumbled under her breath. 

Eventually , after much walking, their little camp came into view as they walked through the flowery fields just outside Train Yard. The closer they grew to it, Natalie’s pylon could be seen from hundreds of meters away as it spun, buzzing with power. The blonde gasp and gave her hands a clap as she then burst into a sprint. 

“It worked!!!” She yelled as she took off. Renee jumped at the sudden out burst of joy but quickly chased after her. It worked. Good, now they have such a big chance of getting out of there and things getting back to normal. 

Natalie ran straight to her pylon as it hummed and buzzed. She chirped with joy as she inspected it, seeing if it was in top conditions. She removed the custom charger hooked to it as she shouted, 

“This is magnificent! We are as good as home, Cherie!” Natalie smiled as she shut down the pylon to she could carry it to the nearest respawn beacon. Renee caught up and gave a sigh of relief.

“Great! Look at you saving our butts with your brains.” Renee complimented.

“You’ve don’t your part as well, but we can fluffy each other up once we are home!”

“Right, Let’s get going then, the sooner we are out the better.” Renee stated returning a smile. “I think the nearest beacon is at Drill Site.”

“Just a skip down the hill, let’s go!” Natalie strapped her pylon to her back and secured it tightly.She was so relieved to see that her pylon had regained power. She worried it wouldn’t work and she wouldn’t be able to do anything to help get them home, but this was turning things around. They had the best chance of getting home, now more that ever. 

The walk to Drill Site was very short just a few meters from where their original campsite was. The two girl’s walking soon turned to jogging as they were over joyed and ready to get this over with and get out of here. “Alright, so then we call the ship down, it may not come immediately. The arena’s been shut down for a few days now, I’m sure because of us going missing. But the Game’s Head Quarters will certainly receive a request for a return ship to pick us up at Drill Site. This will notify the team behind the Games where we are and that we are still alive.” Natalie explained as they drew closer to the beacon. 

“Sounds like a plan.” Renee commented. 

“You need any help with this, or should I just keep clear.” She suggested giving her a sheepish grin. 

“I got this. I’ll have to do some forceful wiring in order to hook my pylon to the beacon. Unless you know how to work with circuits and wires, I would recommend not touching anything.” Natalie chuckled 

“I’m capable of that much.” Renee nervously chuckled. Once again Renee found herself trumped by Natalie’s genius. Renee hardly minded, however, she was confident that Natalie had this in the bag. 

Once at the beacon, Natalie sat her pylon and down and powered it back on. It buzzed in blinding glory as she opened up a small compartment on the side of the machine, pulling two jumper cables out. She then slid under neath the Respawn beacon and opened up the bottom of it. “let me see what I’m working with.” She tinkered inside the dead beacon for a bit, pulling wires, circuits out, just figuring out how the machine worked. Renee sat back and watched this brilliant girl work her magic, just losing herself in her. 

“Just as I thought, these things run on solar batteries. But if I remove the batteries and attach the cables from my pylon to the beacon instead, it should power it on and keep it running long enough to call a ship!” 

Natalie’s explanation fell on deaf ears, unfortunately. Renee was too lost gazing at the blonde to process what she was saying. Natalie was so beautiful when she was working. Renee never really got to see Natalie in her element like this. Most of the time, Natalie working on projects in her dorm room so no one got to see her work like this much. Her blue eyes were so focused, her words were precise, and her hands steady and gentle. How could she be so amazing? Pretty, talented, and smart. Renee could only dream of having a chance with her. She found herself snapped out of her dreamy state when her name was called, jarring her slightly.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“The cables, Cherie. Could you hand them to me?” Natalie said poking her head out from under the beacon. 

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, guess I’m still a little tired and check out.” She faked a yawn as she grabbed the jumper cables from the pylon and handed them to Natalie.

“No worries, we will be home soon enough.” Natalie took the cables in each hand and held them, looking up into the dark innards of the beacon. She took a deep breath and exhaled, “pray this works.” She then shoved her hands into the machine and clipped the jaws of the cables to the Battery compartment. 

Then, white. 

.

.

.

_ “Wake up..... WAKE UP!” _

_ “GET UP!” _

_ “NOW!” _

Renee’s eyes opened wide and all she could see was fuzzy darkness around her. Her ears rung and her head was spinning as her vision slowly retuned. She didn’t know where she was or what was going on. As her vision returned she was faced with the blue sky above her, she was now laying on her back? Her ears still rang loudly as she sat up trying to collect any information she could.

“_SNAP OUT OF IT! Help HER!”_ The voices yelled. 

“W-hat!” Renee groaned. The ground around them had small flames about and there were brunt pieces of metal and scrap all around her. The grass was black and charred from the fames about it. The severity of the situation was starting to hit Renee. Something was wrong. 

“Shit... Natalie, what’s going on?” She grumbled looking around. “Natalie...” she called as she struggled to her feet. Her head was throbbing so hard it felt like her eyes would pop from her skull. Her hands dug into her hair as she forced her all strength into simply standing and looking. Her stomach sank as her eyes finally focused on what was before her. The large beacon Natalie was under was currently crushing her, the only thing visible to Renee of Natalie was her torso and legs. The entire area around Naoie was black and smoke flooded from the matching weighing down on the blonde.

“Fuck!” Renee shouted getting to her knees and putting all her strength into pushing the machine off Natalie. The beacon was heavier than it looked but Renee gave her all and managed to push it off her. It rolled to the side, sparking and spitting smoke. “Ha.... Natalie are you okay?” She huffed with no response. She waited, but nothing. Renee’s heart skipped a beat. “Damn it...” Renee looked her over, carefully for any sign of life left in her. Natalie’s clothes were charred and burnt as well as part of her face. She remained lifeless and still. The seconds felt like hours as Renee watched. She then placed an ear to the electricians chest. It was quiet, then tears almost ran down Renee’s cheek when she felt a gentle heartbeat thumb against her ear. 

“Oh god...” she sighed with relief as she turned to bury her face into the fabric of Natalie’s shirt. “Not Today, Nat... don’t give up on me yet!” She said collecting herself, wiping the beads of tears that bubbled in her eyes. Renee carefully dug her arms under the unconscious girl and picked her up holding her close. She was limp and heavy. This was ugly, seeing Natalie so lifeless. It filled Renee with a throbbing dread and it made her heart ache seeing her this was. 

She could have lost her just then. Renee would have been alone here and lost one of the few people she actually cared for in this world. By a sheer spark of luck, Natalie was still alive and Renee wasn’t letting her go without a fight. 

—————————————-

Greetings everyone! ~~~

I know it took a long time for me to continue this. I am very sorry. I’m working full time and don’t have the energy to write. Also I’m self conscious about my writing sometimes. I know it’s not the best but I’m doing the best of my literate abilities. I’m still learning. 

I’ll try to incorporate stuff from season 4 in my next chapter! I’m excited to continue! 

I hope you like it!

Thank you for reading! ^ , ^


	9. Chapter 9: You Can’t Break a Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a nasty explosion at Drill Site, Renee is not tasked with taking care and seeing Natalie is safe, however she’s been unresponsive for hours now and Renee is starting to suspect the worst.

Chapter 9: You Can’t Break a Promise

She was awake consciously, but didn’t have the strength to open her eyes. She felt like her body was spinning around in circles and her head throbbed with each little sound triggering around her. She could feel herself fade in and out of consciousness constantly as the day would pass, but never had the strength to open her eyes or move much beyond a slight shift or arm twitch. Every so often, however, she felt a soft hand press to her head or heard a muffled voice speak softly. She couldn’t reply. She didn’t have the strength, though the voice brought her peace and comfort. 

Hours passed, and as the sun was starting to set behind the Talos mountains, painting the arena a vibrant orange, but only for a brief few moments before it would disappear. Renee found herself in the brilliant setting sun’s light, heating up some of the ramen her and Natalie found the day before at Sorting Factory. This time she was alone, more or less. After the terrifying event earlier that day, Renee came out fine with just a few bumps and scrapes, but Natalie. She was still unconscious and unresponsive. Renee worried that something was wrong, she’d been unconscious for hours now. What if it turned out Natalie was in a coma. How would she even care for someone in with that type of attention here? 

The voidwalker chewed her lip as she stirred the cup of steamy noodles over a small fire pit she made in the street of Sky Hook. Renee felt Sky Hook would be the best place to bring Natalie to keep her warm, safe, and tend to her needs. There was alsoanother good side to staying in Sky Hook. The buildings of the city had more supplies in them than Renee remembered there being. She found plenty of blankets, water, and salvageable food amongst only a handful of the many building scattered across the area. Her and Natalie should have just came here in the first place and avoided their whole track through Sorting Factory. Then again, she wouldn’t have gotten to bond the way she did with Nat if it wasn’t for the long walks and events they had come across. She found herself being thankful for the journey they had been through so far, up until a few hours ago, that is.

Renee put out the small fire she made, then carried her cup of spicy noddles up the stairs of one of the towering buildings in Sky Hook. On the third floor, she turned and entered a room that was quickly growing more and more dark with the sun’ setting. She sat her steaming cup down on a chair in the room then removed her boots from tracking any further dirt into the small apartment. Her boots were placed next to a familiar pair of white and orange sneakers by the door, she then pulled out her handy lighter that had been serving her and Natalie well the last few days and gave it a test flick. The flame from its top flowed warmly. 

Renee walked over to a cardboard box sitting in the corner of the dark room. She pulled back the lid and reached in, pulling out a tan cylinder candle. She flicked the lighter on and gently lit the candle’s wick drawing a dim light from it. Renee was lucky enough to find a large box of candles in the basement of one of Sky Hook’s restaurants. This will give them a little more light to work with at night, for a short while at least. Light after light started to fill the room as Renee placed burning candles about, turning the room a flickering dim yellow. Any light was better than none, however. 

As she was placing a candle on top of a rusty refrigerator in the room, a faint grunt came from behind her, causing her to pause. She turned with candle in hand as she rose her eyebrows to the voice,

“Nat?” She asked as she made her way to a series of blankets placed with care on the floor. 

Natalie lay, bundled up in a make shift bed created with a dozen blankets and a few pillows, Renee managed to find from searching Sky Hook earlier in the day. “Natalie.” She called to the badly burned and charred girl. Renee held her breath as she waited for even the smallest reply or answer to her call. The silence was starting to grow loud and began to ring in her hears, but a spark of hope shone as Natalie grumbled from her throat and shifted slightly. “I’m here Nat, it’s alright.” Renee consoled as her hand moved a few messy stands of golden hair from her face. Renee sat by Natalie’s side, placing the candle she held in the window seal above where the blonde lie to give Renee a little more light to see her with. Even in this state, Natalie still looked as beautiful and a peaceful as ever. It stung however to see such beauty in a wrecked state. With a heavy heart Renee looked her over again, checking her for any injuries, fever, cuts, buries, anything that might indicate harm to her companion. It was a miracle Natalie was still in one piece after what had happened earlier. Renee couldn’t recall it fully but she assumed something went very wrong and the beacon they were trying to power up exploded. Things could be so much worse, but Renee remained cautious and would check up on Natalie from time to time.

As she was checking her head for any further injuries, Natalie gave another groan and shifted more, this time trying to weakly sit up. “Renee.....” She grumbled with a scratchy throat. 

“Hey, hey whoa! Take it easy.” Renee stoped Natalie from moving any further and laid her back down. “Yeah, just take it easy.” Natalie’s eyes struggled but they managed to crack open. The real task was keeping them open as even the smallest light would force them shut again. 

“Did we make it back?” Natalie huffed as she used her left hand to rub her eyes. Renee smiled to see Natalie responsive again but sighed at her question. 

“I’m afraid not. But we are safe and sound. I’m so glad you’re alright.” A major burden was lifted from Renee knowing Natalie was going to be okay, for the time being at least. “Here I’ll get you some water.” Renee hopped up and grabbed a water bottle and brought it to Natalie, handing her the beverage, “Here, try to drink something. Might help with that frog in your throat.” Renee brought Natalie to set up and lay against the wall behind her so she could swallow properly. It didn’t go down easily but Natalie was getting fluids into her system again. “You feel okay?” Renee asked as she sat next her once more. 

The blonde swallowed her water then sighed taking a minute to actually process how she felt. “I’m alright just hurts here and there. What exactly happened?” Natalie asked as she looked around her environment to try and assess where they ended up. 

“I think the beacon you were trying to power up may have exploded. At least that’s what I can gathered. I was stuck in the same mess you were, but I’m fine, I think.” Renee shrugged. Natalie raise her brows in surprise and looked to Renee, almost spitting the water she was trying to swallow out. 

“Wait! An explosion!” Natalie exclaimed as she looked down trying to recall the event.As her eyes dropped its then she noticed her right prosthetic arm was missing. “Ah...oh no...” she frowned checking her arm, or what was left of it. Scraps of metal that use to be her prosthetic hung from her arm uselessly. Natalie reluctantly removed the rest of the metal before it would hurt Someone or herself and all that was left was just the scared stub. 

“Sorry about that. When I picked you up back at Drill Site, your arm... just kinda fell apart. I don’t know what else could have done that other than an explosion.” Renee explained. Natalie worriedly looked at her arms then dropped it using her left hand to push her bangs from her face. 

“I’m such an idiot!” Natalie yelled and shook her head, “I should have known that would happen. My pylon was overcharged, I’m sure, so when I connected the cables to the beacon, it was too much power and it caused the entire thing to blow. God! That was an amateur mistake.” She grumbled to herself taking her fist and slamming it against her leg.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. I mean we’re okay. Tomorrow we can try something else.” Renee suggested as she crossed her arms. 

“It’s not okay though! I could have killed the two of us. I’m the one that’s suppose to be good with these things and I’m out here making stupid mistakes like that, almost killing us!” Natalie turned to look at Renee and her eyes widened with in shock, “Mon dieu, Cherie! Your face!”Natalie reached her available hand out and placed it on Renee’s cheek. “Oh look at you...” she sighed with a frown as she looked Renee’s scratched up face over. A large, now scabbing up scratch had sliced across Renee’s nose as well as other scratches along her jaw and cheeks were visible and now slowly healing. 

“Oh, I’m fine. Nothing but some scrapes, I’ve faced much much worse that this.” She huffed with a chuckle. Natalie shook her head as her bottom lip began to quiver. This was painful, seeing her indirectly harm a friend. 

“I’m so sorry...” tears started to streak down the blonde’s cheeks, ripping through the dirt on her face leaving a clean stream of tears. Renee felt a knot in her throat as she watch Natalie begin to cry. Her deep blue eyes sparkled with tears and it aches Renee to see it. 

“Hey, I’m okay really. It’s you I’m worried about, you’re the one that took the hardest blow.” Renee tried to comfort with a shrug. 

“I could have killed you.... then what? I couldn’t live with myself knowing I did that!” Natalie sobbed pulling her hand away from Renee’s face and whipped the messy tears from her own, smearing dirt and suit with them. 

“You didn’t though. So it’s okay. We’re both fine. Maybe in a different time and space, things were worse, but not here and not now.”

“I’m so stupid and reckless! I’m becoming more of a burden to this operation than a help! I’m so worthless!” She sobbed as more tears dropped from her chin. “I can’t be of any help here! I’m just a pathetic anxious mess!” Renee’s consoling manners faded and a frown formed on her lips. 

“HEY!” Renee shouted pulling Natalie from her crying. The blonde looked at her with wide blue eyes, surprised to see Renee raise her voice. Renee stared quietly but directly at her for a moment before speaking up once more, “You’re breaking our promise!” She snarled as Natalie narrowed her eyes and shook her head in confusion, tears still bubbled in her eyes. 

“I....don’t-“ Renee then held her hand up, fist closed, pink out.

“Our promise back at the geyser. The one where you told me to care for myself and always feel valued. Well if I have to put up with that nonsense then you do too!” Natalie looked at Renee’s hand then back to her glaring eyes.

“I wasn’t-“

“Saying you’re worthless and stupid is making yourself less valued than you are! You are not worthless! You are not stupid! You’ve gotten us further than anyone else would have and you’re damned trying your best! Don’t ever say that again!” Renee stared at her with strict bleached eyes and it struck the electrician. Natalie was so lost for word she blankly started back as a single tear rolled down her cheek. With a sniffle and a cheek wipe, Natalie held her hand out up, pinky out and wrapped her finger into Renee’s. 

“You’re right.” The blonde sniffled with a reddened nose and cheeks, “I’m sorry. I can’t break a pinky promise.” Natalie forced a smile as she looked to Renee’s scratched up face and she returned a soft grin. “I guess I’m just overwhelmed and stressing out a bit...but you’re right. I can’t be making promises that I can’t keep, myself.”

“Good! Don’t you ever feel that way again! I care for you too much for you to feel worthless.” Renee admitted as she broke the eye content she was holding do well and glanced down a bit. Natalie felt her cheeks flush to Renee’s words. Someone as strong and brave as Renee held such a high view on someone like her? 

“You do?” Natalie asked tilting her head slightly to try and meet Renee’s eyes again. 

The voidwalker nodded, “Yes! You know... we’ve come this far together so don’t give up now. You’re full of so many good ideas, I’m sure you’ll have many more.” Renee’s flustered side was starting to show. Her cheeks started to tint pink as she spoke and her eye contact started to fail tremendously. “I value you so much and stuff, it hurts me to hear that you don’t see yourself with any.” 

Natalie gave another sniffle followed by a chuckle, “I’m flattered someone like you sees value in me. Thank you.” Natalie shrugged, “You’ve done just as much, you know. If nothing else you’ve kept me company and made me feel happy. That’s definitely worth something.” Renee’s blush depend further as the electrician spoke. She wasn’t good at hiding feeling like this so they couldn’t help but shine through. 

“Yeah, I guess!” She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “So That means we will just have to crutch off each other then, huh?”

“I guess so.” Natalie smiled as she looked back up to Renee. The moment fell silent between them, Natalie looking at Renee and Renee looking down to avoid flustering eye contact. “Thank you...” Natalie whispered, “I don’t know what we can do now, but maybe tomorrow we can go see the mess we left and salvage what we can from the explosion.” Natalie thought out loud.

“Ah, Yeah . We can do that if you like. But only if you’re feeling up to it. I don’t want you going out if you feel weak or anything” Natalie chuckled and rolled her eyes. 

“I’ll see how I feel in the morning but I’m sure I’ll be okay.” Natalie nodded. Her freckles cheeks then friend rosy as her thoughts lingered to what Renee said earlier. “You actually mean those things? About valuing me and all that?” Renee huffed a bit but nodded. 

“Of course I did. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.” 

Natalie giggled and looked down as an idea came into her head. “Well, that was very sweet of you to say. I’m glad you feel that way towards little me.” Natalie then pulled herself closer andlooked to Renee for a second before leaning in and planting a kiss on Renee’s cheek. It was short and sweet, but Natalie’s lips stung her like a wasp. Renee could feel it through her whole body, heating her from head to toe. Renee quickly turned and looked at her with wide eyes, raised brows, and jaw almost dropping to the floor. Natalie just looked at her and chuckled till she realized she wasn’t getting the response she wanted from the voidwalker. Her cute smile quickly dropped to a regrettable frown and embarrassed blush. 

“Oh....I’m sorry. That was inappropriate of me.” Natalie covered her mouth with her hand and turned away from Renee. Maybe that was too far. It was just a thankful gesture, or Natalie thought it was anyways. It took her a moment but Renee snapped out of her sudden daze once she saw Natalie drift from her. 

“Wha-No no! It’s okay. I-I just wasn’t expecting that...” she nervously chuckled feeling her neck sweat and her chest constrict. “It’s fine, I actually liked it... w-well-no I liked it but not a super lot.... not to say I didn’t not, not like it a lot... but...mmmm...” Renee forced her lips closed before she could sound like a bigger idiot. “What I’m trying to say...is, that was nice?” She shrugged a hot, sweaty, nervous mess looking back to Natalie. “You know what, it’s actually making the scratch on my cheek feel a ton better.” She choked rubbing her cheek were she was smooched.

Natalie watched Renee struggle to speak, and smiled behind her hand, pulling it from her face. “Oh yeah? Maybe I should kiss them all better then?” She chuckled, obviously teasing, but her words still struck Renee. 

“Oh...I-um..,” Renee was choking. She couldn’t make words with her mouth. Her face was fully red at this point as her fingers twiddled around each other in a nervous tick. It sent her heart overboard thinking about Natalie giving her an attack of kisses. She tried to snap out of it, but how could she? Natalie’s the one who suggest it!

“I’m only playing.” Natalie quickly responded with a giggle as she laid back against the walled and rested her head. Renee sighed the breath she was holding in her lungs to those words. 

“Ah...yeah. I know.” Renee lied trying to catch her breath and calm her heart breaking through her chest. Another silent moment fell between them. The moment wasn’t as quiet from Renee however, since her heart was throbbing in her ears. Natalie spoke up again turning her head slightly, “I wonder what the other legends are up to?” Natalie’s left hand reach other and grabbed her right arm, feeling over the stub where the rest of it should have been. “Do you think they are worried about us?”

Renee found her wording again after calming down and breathing some, even though she could still feel Natalie’s lips burning into her cheek. “I’m sure they are, and they miss us. I bet they are even looking for us right now, I hope at least. And maybe they will find us soon.”

“No kidding.” Natalie chuckled closing her eyes as her head laid back. “Till then, I guess we will keep trying ourselves, right?”

“Right.” Renee nodded glancing over to her giving the blonde a smile. Renee wasn’t sure what more they could do on their own here. They were running out of options and it was getting a bit ridiculous that they had been here this long without anyone returning for them. This just set off red flags for her, clearly something was up. Either that, or the syndicate was treating their Apex competitors extremely poorly. It didn’t matter however, until the help they needed did show up, Renee made it her prime goal to keep Natalie okay and see she was perfectly safe, no matter what.

_______________________________

Greetings everyone~~~~

I hope you enjoyed a nice fluff chapter. More interesting things to come

Next chapter. Also thanks for the 100+ kudos and 1,000+ hits. I never thought this silly writing would go this far! Means a lot to a bad writer like myself. :,) 

Thank you for reading! ^ ^


	10. Chapter 10: Strong, for Both of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning to Drill Site shows the horrible damage from the day before and leaves Natalie depressed from the damage she caused. Renee tries her best to lift her spirits even if she herself is struggling with her own emotional burdens and feelings for Natalie.

_ Chapter 10: Strong, For Both of Us.  _

Weak legs trembled as the blonde’s body weight was becoming to much for her. Natalie struggled and stumbled, grabbing onto Renee for balance so she wouldn’t hit the floor.

“Easy. We don’t have to do this is you’re not feeling it.” Renee recommended as she helped steady Natalie once more.

“I’m fine...really,” She grunted, “My legs are just, not working with me today.” Natalie pulled herself away from Renee and tried to stand on her own. For a few seconds, she was successful before her left ankle gave out and twisted underneath her. Skilled hands were fast to grab her from falling as Natalie yelped. The blonde looked up to see Renee had caught her under her arms from hitting the floor. She sheepishly grinned as she was gently sat back down onto her blankets. 

“Maybe we should save this for another day.” Renee suggested as she sat next to Natalie. 

“I don’t want to waist more time than we already have.” Natalie huffed as she pulled her legs underneath her and sat with legs crossed. “This wasn’t so bad the first few days but now, I miss home. I need real food and an actually bed.” Natalie pouted.

“Mm, yeah. I miss actual food too, and hot showers.” 

“Ugh yes...” Natalie groaned. “I’m quickly getting sick of this place.” She childishly crosses her arms and puffed her cheeks. Renee chuckled a bit from how cute it was but ultimately agreed. She never liked being stuck here in the first place, now it was staring to get to both of them. 

With a sigh Renee stood up and stretched before walking in front of Natalie, turning around showing her back and squatting down, “Alright, hop on.” She motioned. Natalie looked at her and raised her with eyebrows. 

“You sure?” She snickered, unfolding her arms. 

“Yup, since you are determined, let’s go see what we can save from that wreck yesterday.” Renee smiled over her shoulder. 

Natalie pusher herself off her legs and climbed onto Renee’s back. She used her only good arm to wrap around Renee’s neck, then wrapped her legs around the void-walker’s waist. Luckily Natalie was light, so it was no trouble at all for Renee to give her a piggy-back ride. “If you get tired though, don’t hesitate to kick me off.” Natalie suggested with a chuckled.

“Alright then, I’ll just dump you off anytime I need a break.” Renee teased, as she dug her hands around Natalie’s legs to better secure her grip on her. 

“Not what I meant.” Natalie giggled playfully nudging the back of Renee’s head. 

“Hey, you suggested it.” Renee chuckled as she adjusted herself to better carry her companion and started her way down the apartment steps. 

It was a brilliantly sunny day, warm and comfortable with a gentle breeze. A perfect day. Drill site wasn’t a far walk from Sky Hook, still Natalie insisted on Renee taking a break about halfway there. She did want to tire her companion out, so she forced her to rest, to Renee’s dismay. The two women laid back on a warm rock absorbing the sun’s heat. Renee got comfortable laying her head back on the rock and every so often reaching up to scratch her face where the wind blew her hair and it tickled her cheek. Natalie sat beside her and enjoyed this moment of peace too by cloud watching. 

Large fluffy cumulus clouds were sailing across the sky creating marvelous shapes and forms. Natalie was enjoying picturing objects and people in their shapes. She gave a quiet chuckle at cloud the resembled Dr. Caustic and admired one that was shaped like the Nessie Doll she had back in her dorm. Her innocent cloud gazing was soon disturbed, however. The blonde squinted her eyes as she looked straight up into the air, then tilted her head slightly. 

“You know for a smart girl, like yourself, it’s probably not she wisest choice to stare straight at the sun.” Renee teased as she peaked an eye open. 

“Very funny... but you see that too right?” Natalie said as her gaze remained glued to the blue sky. Renee raised an eyebrow and checked for herself. As clouds slid past, a small sparkle of light shown clearly through the blue sky. Renee found herself squinting as well, just to be sure she wasn’t seeing things. 

“Yeah, I think so. Pretty.” She shrugged laying back once more as a gust of wind blew through them. 

“What is that?” Natalie said giving her eyes a rub and break from staring at the bright sky.

“I mean, it’s probably just stars or a planet, or something. They can shine during the day, right?”

“Yeah, but... that doesn’t look like a star. It’s like a funny color.”

“How can you even tell from here?” Renee sat up and looked back into the sky. The sun’s light was making it hard to clearly see the sparkle in its full imagine, but it was still clearly there. “Maybe it’s a ship coming for us.” Renee chuckled as she stood up and dusted herself off, “...only if we were that luck, huh?” Natalie’s head stayed looking up at the sky. She seemed almost troubled by the seemingly harmless dot of a sparkle. “You...Uh, ready to go?” 

Natalie pulled her head down and rubbed her eyes once more. “Oh, yes. Let’s keep going, almost there.” Renee helped her off the ground and onto her back once more. Natalie gave the sparkle one last glance before trying to put it out of her mind. Seemed harmless enough, but it’s presence still bothered her. 

A short walk was all that was left as the buildings from drill site started to poke over the hill the two were scaling. The closer they approached the more visible yesterday’s explosion and damage had become. The entire site had scrap metal scatter about from the blast and black soot cover the ground. The entire area where the Respawn beacon use to be was completely black from the grass the buildings around it, it was a haunting sight. Natalie felt a knot form in her throat seeing the damage that was actually left. She was reminded how lucky her and Renee were to make it out with only a few burns, scratches, and a pair of weak legs. A gentle hand gripped tighter around Renee as the blonde was lost in the “what if” thoughts. Renee could feel her tense up and didn’t want to trouble her too much. 

“You want me to go? I can just let you rest here.” Renee suggest looking over her shoulder. 

“Non, I need to see myself what I can saveof my pylon, but I’m sure it’s not much...” she sighed. Renee nodded and started making her way down the hill with Natalie hugging to her back. 

It was worse that she imagined it. Her pylon was unrecognizable as was the respawn beacon. It was just a black mess of broken parts and pieces. 

“Let me down.” Natalie asked as she began sliding off Renee’s back. Renee helped by bringing her closer to the charred remains of her pylon and gently sitting her before it. Natalie took her hand and touched part of her precious pylon, only to have it break off into ash. Natalie pulled her hand back and just stared quietly at the mess she had caused. 

Renee frowned seeing her troubled. Natalie was her light in this hard time, so seeing her so dull and dim made her feel that way, even more than she already did. “Hey, it’s okay. You did your best and at least tried, right? I mean, how many people would have already given up?”

Natalie was slow to respond but eventually spoke up, “I suppose.... still all it takes is a mistake.” Her shoulders dropped as she looked down, “I could have seriously hurt you or worse...”

“But you didn’t. You’re still stuck with me.” Renee teased to try and lighten the blonde up, but it was futile. Natalie sighed and tired to stand to her feet once more. She struggled but managed. 

“You sure you can’t save any of it?” Renee asked attempting to get Natalie to at least try and save her iconic pylon. The blonde just shook her head. 

“Lets go, there’s no hope for this stuff.” Natalie said in a somber tone approaching Renee. Renee let out a sigh but nodded helping Natalie onto her back once more. “Let’s just go back to skyhook for now, till I can think of something else.” 

“Roger.” Renee replied, securing her grip onto Natalies legs and started their trip back. This troubled Renee deeply, Natalie was one to always try, even in the toughest of situations and seeing her not even attempt to salvage her pylon, sat unwell with the older woman. 

Natalie remained quiet as did Renee most of the walk back. For Natalie, she was more tired than anything, which was keeping her quiet. Her troubling thoughts were the other factor in her silence. With a sigh, Natalie laid her head on Renee’s shoulder mumbling into the fabric of Renee’s scarf, “It’s not looking good for us, huh?” 

Renee shrugged, “I’m sure things will be fine. Things haven’t been too bad, well... until yesterday, but we’re okay, and we’ll be okay.” Renee tried to console. “Let’s head back and take it easy. We can just sit back for a while and rest. We’ll come up with another idea to get us home.” Natalie gave another sigh of acknowledgment. She couldn’t help but feel like this was her fault now. The chances of getting out of there were dropped majorly with out her pylon and with herself hurt and her prosthetic arm missing. Renee could feel Natalie’s growing depression too. It was troubling to see her like this. The petite Electrician was always a breath of fresh air and an optimist, so to see her in the dumps was pulling Renee down as well. 

Returning to SkyHook, Renee sat outside with Natalie brewing up some instant noodles. Renee had made a small fire pit the night before outside the building they had bunkered in, she figured they would be using at least a few times more before doing some more hiking around the arena. Natalie sat in front of the fire, staying warm with her legs pulled to her chest, as she watched the fire snap and burn. Her eyes were tired and almost lifeless. The energetic electrician seemed defeated. Renee tried to remain strong for the two of them. She’d carried this burden many times on the battlefield, pulling clutch fights and even solo winning matches. She was strong, but her strength would only go so far. One look at Natalie’s defeated heart and it crushed Renee. She had to keep going however, for herself and Natalie. 

“Instant ramen sure looses it’s value pretty quick, huh? I’m not sure I can even touch ramen again once we are out of here.” Renee joked trying to lift spirits. Natalie only looked up to her then back into the fire’s heat. This was heart retching. Renee could feel her chest tighten seeing Natalie so depressed and was unresponsive. The inside of her lip was staring to go numb from where Renee was nervously chewing on it so much. She could hardly help herself in these moments when she had of her own, how was she suppose to help someone else with their own depression? Renee silently thought for a moment then raised her brows with an idea. 

“Be right back, I’m just going to run upstairs really quick.” Renee stood up, from sitting across from Natalie, and ran up into the room they were staying in. Natalie watched her disappear up the stairs then closed her eyes resting her head on her knees. She didn’t want to move, she didn’t have the strength mentally or physically. Natalie just wanted to sink into the concrete and stay there. Luckily, before her thoughts became to dark, Renee came stomping down the stair with stacks of boxes in her arms. 

“Check these out.” Renee cautiously walked to Natalie and dropped the stack of cardboard boxes next to her. 

“What’s all this?” Natalie said more upset than confused. She was too tried to deal with much nonsense and she came off as mean. It’s stung Renee a little but she kept going, she felt like she had to try and bring out the better in Nat.

“All of worlds edge use to be populated and everything before the arctic blast from the epicenter, right?” Renee took the top box off the stack and sat it on the ground, beginning to dig through it. “Check our all this stuff I ran into yesterday.” Natalie looked at Renee raising an eyebrow then peaked her head over the side of the box getting a glimpse inside. 

Natalie narrowed her brow as she looked into the box reaching her hand into it and pulled out a long black cord. It wasn’t attached to anything, nor was it labeled, so to anyone who didn’t own it, it was useless. “Um... okay?” Natalie said confused holding the cord. She reachedback in and pulled out a red bandanna this time. Natalie shook her head and took a good look in the box, it seemed to be filled with miscellaneous items. 

“Renee, what is all this... junk?”

“I have no idea, but while I was digging around yesterday I found this stuff. This was somebody’s junk and now it’s just been left here to rot. I figured it would be smart of us to look through it and see if we can find anything useful.” Renee began removing the cardboard boxes off one another and placing them on the ground next to Natalie. Renee figured this would keep their minds busy and off past events, even if for a little while. Luckily, Natalie was one that worked with her hands, so digging through a box of miscellaneous and random items was a good distraction for her. 

“Yeah, I suppose that’s not a bad idea.” Natalie replied.

Renee poured the water they had boiling over the fire pit into two instant ramen noodle cups, and sat one beside Natalie. She then found herself a seat beside her, pulling up her own box to dig through it. “Let me know what you find. I was looking though these yesterday and I couldn’t believe some of the neat stuff this person had saved up.” Natalie nodded in agreement as she picked her cup up and held it as she eyed through the box. Renee was pleased to see her at least agreeing to do this. She worried Natalie would be too down to do anything, and she would have remained depressed and bummed out. 

Now, things just made a one-eighty for the pair. Renee found herself by Natalie’s side just doing the most simple of tasks: eating and digging through boxes. Yet, to Renee this was a moment of Heaven. Just getting to spend time with no worries and no troubles next to the girl she had fallen hard for. This was perfect. The void-walker found herself more watching Natalie dig around and pull out items more than she was doing it herself. Natalie was so fun to watch be her quirky cute herself, Renee couldn’t help it. 

Item after item came out of the boxes but few showed themselves to be worth any value for their situation, though the girls still had fun checking out the variety of items, new, vintage, strange, and everything in between. A few things that caught Natalie’s eyes, in particular, were an old silver necklace with a gold rose pendant, a couple of very old records that most certainly didn’t have a record player to go with them, and an alarm clock that was shaped like a duck. Surprisingly, the clock still had batteries with some juice left in them. Now, at the very least they knew what time it was and had an alarm if they needed one. 

The minuets became hours. Each item was pulled out of one box, checked, and placed in another till there weren’t but a few items left. Renee and Natalie has lost themselves in the day, enjoying their time together and time just taking it easy for an afternoon. No worrying, no traveling, just each other’s company. The pair were so caught up in their talking and scavenging through the boxes that they hardly noticed the dark gloomy clouds that started to hoover. In fact, it wasn’t until the subtle rumble of thunder in the distance beginning to growl, that they noticed a storm blowing in. 

Natalie was always a fan of storms, it was her chance to get close and personal with nature’s own form of an electrician. She could have sat outside and watched the whole storm blow through deep into the night, but for her safety it was best to probably take shelter from the rain and lightning. 

“Maybe we should head inside. It’s staring to look pretty nasty out here.” Natalie shrugged. 

“Good call.” Renee nodded as she started collecting what items were set outside the boxes and placing them back in. Natalie gave out a small yawn and helped clean up a bit. She seemed to return to her sweet blooming-self again, thanks to Renee‘s attempt to keep spirits up. Natalie paused and smiled at the ground thinking how her friend was trying so hard to keep her going, just like she was trying to do to her when all this started. It seemed their roles had switched and Natalie wasn’t so sure as to why, but was thankful for Renee’s best efforts and strength to keep going.

“You know...I’m thankful for you....” Natalie spoke with a softness that was so gentle Renee swore she could feel it brush against her cheeks. The void-walker’s packing came to a stop as her gaze was pulled up to Natalie’s. 

“Yeah? Well, I’m thankful for you too. You keep me going, I guess.” The eye contact was dropped when she felt her cheeks start to warm. 

“I guess we keep each other’s flame burning in these times, huh?” 

“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.” Renee nodded as she stood up. “You, Uh.... think you can walk back up on your own, or you need some help?” Renee asked stretching her arms out till they made a satisfying pop. 

“I think I got it. I’ll just take it slow.” Natalie responded as she slowly stood and dusted herself off. “I’ll see you upstairs.” She hummed with a smile as she turned and started making her way to the apartment stairs. Renee’s eyes wandered as she watch Natalie go. The blonde’s walk had such a drawing sway to her hips, Renee never noticed till recent days. It was hard to look away, but thankfully, the crack of thunder caught her attention. Snapping out of her daze by the startling flash and following boom, Renee continued to stack the boxes atop each other and ascend back up the apartment stairs herself. 

By now the day was drawing to dusk and the dark clouds beginning to swarm only made it grow darker more quickly. Once Renee had made it back to their small room, she found it already glowing with warm flickering light as Natalie had taken the liberty of lighting the candles Renee sat out the day before. A smile crept on Renee’s lips as she brought the boxes in and sat them by the door, pulling the little digital ducky clock they had found earlier off the top of the stack and setting it over where the two were resting. 

“These candles are so lovely! They turn the room from gloomy to glowing.” Natalie chirped as she stood on her toes to reach a candle on top of the kitchen cabinets.

“Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good find myself. There are more in the closet if we need them, but I didn’t want to set too many out. Don’t want to turn the place into a fire hazard.” Renee shrugged as shesat on her bed and started to toy with the clock seeing all of what it could do. 

“Wise choice.” Natalie agreed as she finished lighting the last candle on the kitchen counter. Natalie left the lighter on counter beside the candles for future use and returned to Renee. “Oh? You kept the clock out.” Renee looked up at Natalie then back down to the adorable shaped clock. 

“Yeah, figured at there very least we know what time it is.” She chuckled turning the clock face to Natalie as it read “9:26 p.m.”

A another rip of thunder cracked outside and the sound of rain patting the windows and roof started to become audible. Natalie sat in her bed, placed next to Renee’s and looked out the window. There wasn’t much to see, the lack of light outside made it almost scary as it was completely dark, but the flashes of lightning would reveal the world outside to still be there and remained unchanged. A sudden loud noise that was certainly not thunder caught Natalie’s attention and almost startled her. Her wide eyes and gaze quickly looked to Renee only to be followed with a chuckle. A soft instrumental tune played from the small clock Renee was holding. 

“So I figured out it not just a clock but a radio as well.” The void-walker hummed as she turned the radio down a bit and sat it in the window seal. 

“I guess we have some pleasant tunes to get us through now, huh?” Natalie smiled then had a yawn mixed in as she wiggled down into her bed, resting her head. Renee nodded in response as she laid back against the wall and rested herself. Both girls enjoyed their day together and found themselves both tired. Unfortunately, it was in these moments Renee’s mind would become active with voices from the void. This was nothing new and haunted her most every night. Most nights she could manage to ignore it, but other nights, the voices would get to her. 

“_Tell her._” Renee’s heavy eyes opened at the voice in her head. She shook it off and tried closing them once more but the voice prevailed.

“_Tell her how you feel_!” Her eyes shot open that time. 

“_Tell her_!” A hand ran up her head then scratched back down.

“No...” she whispered to herself. Renee’s hand scratched down her scalp then covered her mouth as she glanced over to Natalie. The soft girl was already snoozing sweetly next to her. Poor dear had a rough few days, so rest had come so easy to her. Renee looked at her with heavy eyes and heavy heart. She was perfect. A gentle, smart, beautiful woman just inches from her. Renee’s heart throbbed in her chest so loud it was drowning out the music playing from the tiny radio and the cracking thunder outside. How long could she keep this up? This pretending. Pretending to hide how she felt. 

“_Tell her_!”

“She’s asleep! No!” She whispered once more to no one in the room. Her head was buried in her hands. Her face was warm. These feelings were getting worse and worse. She craved Natalie’s touch now, her body ached for any affection. It was hurting almost. This was turning into torture. It started out innocent enough but her feelings had grown to a point where she wanted Natalie, desperately. She couldn’t let these thoughts and feelings get the best of her. No, she wouldn’t allow them. Renee would continue to tank the pain and struggle. She had always lived like this. Strong for others around her. Here wasn’t the place to share her thoughts and affections anyhow. 

She pulled her heavy head from her hands and looked back down to Natalie. Peaceful and beautiful as ever. She reached down, grabbing Nat’s blanket and pulled it over her, gently tucking her in. A moment of silence passed as Renee just stared at her admiring her perfection, before her hand lightly ran across the blonde’s fair cheek and brushed she soft bangs from her freckled face. 

“What I would do have just a moment with you... just a moment to call you mine.” There was almost a sadness in her words as she mumbled to herself. They fell from her lips with a heavy heart. Another gentle stroke to Natalie’s soft cheek then Renee had to force her hand away. She sighed and finally decided this wasn’t healthy for her. Fawning over a girl as she slept never sat well with anyone. Hopefully, some fresh air would do her well. 

The rain poured outside. It was to heavy and hard that drops hitting the ground were splashing back up into the air and the thunder was so harsh it shook the ground when striking. Renee sat on the stairs outside the apartment watching, or more listening, to the rain in the dark. She felt her heart sinking into her stomach. It was getting harder and harder each day to fight her feelings but she had already decided two things: one, this was not the time and place to be confessing feelings. Two, Natalie probably wasn’t interested in her to begin with. So why sit and worry and bother with telling her anything. It would only cause controversy between them and that’s not what they needed right now. 

“_Behind you..._” Renee froze. 

Her thoughts were so loud in her head, and the storm outside was raging so loudly that Renee didn’t hear the small foot steps behind her.She quickly turned only to see Natalie standing in the door way of the apartment, blanket draped over she shoulders and figure dimly illuminated by the candle light inside. 

“Nat.... don’t come up on me like that.... you almost startled me...” Renee sighed in relief as Natalie quietly approached her. She walked down a few steps from Renee, turned and faced her, looking up at the raven-haired woman. “Everything alright?” Renee asked, but her question was ignored. 

“Is this the moment you wanted?” Natalie said with a quiet whisper to her voice. Renee didn’t have a second to process what she said before she felt soft pink lips press against her own pale ones. Bleached eyes widened and her cheeks burned as Natalie closed the distance between them and locked her lips into Renee’s. Both quickly sinking into each other’s embrace. 

_______________________________

Greetings everyone~~~~

Longer chapter, I know but finally that closure I’ve been building to! *whew*

Thank you all so much for you kind words about the story. I think I would have given up on writing it along time ago if it wasn’t for the kind and wonderful messages I’ve been getting about it! I’ll continue to write as long as I know people enjoy it! 

I’ve been busy recently so I can’t always find the time to write. But I will do as much as I can. 

You guys are great! :) 

Thank you for reading! ^ ^

** ***NOTICE*** **

_ Next chapter will be completely NSFW. If you do not wish to read that kind of content then you may skip to the chapter after. Next chapter will NOT progress the story line.   
_

_ Thank you!  _


	11. Chapter 11: Test the Waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***NSFW CHAPTER***  
(The first 1/3 of the chapter will continue the story of the last chapter but the rest will be strictly NSFW. If you wish to only read the story relevant parts, there is a divide in the chapter that separates the story. After the divide the plot will not continue until next chapter! Thank you!)
> 
> Feelings come to the front. It turns out the two girls had something in common after all this time and it was their feelings each had for the other. They certainly won’t be able to keep their hands to themselves.

Chapter 11: Test the Waters 

She swore she was dreaming. She had to be. There was no other explanation for what was happening in this moment. She’d easily get lost in this sensation if she didn’t ground herself. It took every fiber in her body to pull away from those soft lips. She didn’t want to but she needed to know what was going on! 

“Natalie!” Renee huffed as she pulled herself from the blonde’s lips. “Wh-what’s this about?” Renee was struck, dumbfounded even. Her wide teal eyes looked straight into Natalie’s cerulean ones, trying to get any answers from them. For a moment neither said anything. The white noise of the pouring rain began to fill both their ears as they looked one another down in strucken silence.

“Renee, what you said back there-“

“Whoa! So you heard...” a cold sweat broke out on Renee’s head as she felt her stomach sink into her pelvic bone, “..youweren’t asleep?” All the color in her face flushed out in a panic. She worried Natalie was going to look at her differently for the things she said or maybe even look badly at her now for having feelings for her.

“Not exactly. I was sorta somewhere in between. I could hear you talking though, which kinda pulled me out of sleeping completely. That’s when I felt you touch me and... the things you said.” Natalie’s cheeks blushed as she pulled her hand up and touched the same spot Renee’s hands grazed her earlier. Renee could feel her throat start to choke her. She had unintentionally told Natalie exactly how she felt about her and it wasn’t setting well. 

“Uh...I’m sorry, if I would have known you were...you know awake, I would have never touched you or-“ Natalie shook her head and raised her hand to cup Renee’s damp cheek, wet from the rain splashing.

“Non, ma Cherie...” Natalie closed the distance between the two of them again, placing a single kiss to Renee’s lips and continued, “I’m glad you did.” She whispered staying nose to nose with the nervous wreck that was the void-runner. 

A second kiss, this moment really wasn’t real. Renee melted into Natalie’s touch all too easy. When Nat drew closer Renee immediately surrendered and didn’t fight back or hesitate. “You are...glad?” Renee whispered back. 

“Of course I am.” Natalie removed her hand from Renee’s cheek then grabbed one of her hands holding it, brushing her gentle fingers over pale skin, “I feel strongly about you as well.” Natalie’s eyes dropped in saying this, timid from her confession.

“You do?” 

“Yes.” Natalie nodded. “I’ve said before, I always admired you, but in recent days my admiration was turning into ... something else. Perhaps it’s just being in such close quarters with you and the isolation, but I am drawn to you. I look at you and you are so pretty, and strong, and brave. I am honored to have such a woman as yourself with me.” Natalie’s cheeks started to burn with blood as well as she continued, “You are so mysterious yet friendly and kind. Who wouldn’t be drawn to you...and uh... I would also be honored to have that moment with you.That moment where you call me yours andwe can have the world around us simmer away.” Natalie’s gaze returned to Renee’s as she pulled the void-walker’s hand to her mouth and gave the palm of her hand a kiss. Strong hands met gentle lips. “I want that.” Her voice has dipped to a whisper, almost drown out by the rain, but Renee caught every word. 

She didn’t reply, instead reacted. Renee pulled Natalie into a tight hug, holding her as close as their physical bodies would allow. Natalie happily embraced back, hiding her face into the dip of Renee’s neck. It felt so good to hold her, so good to have her warmth in her arms. Renee froze in that moment with Natalie in arms. She didn’t want to move. She feared pulling away would reveal Natalie to not be there and for Renee to finally claim insanity she’d been running from. Natalie did move either. She was content feeling Renee’s heart beat against her own chest and being held by this mysterious woman. 

It felt like hours the two were locked in embrace as the rain drowned out any sound from the environment around them. Eventually Natalie pulled away only to touch her forehead to the void-walker’s. 

“You have no idea how wonderful it is to have you hold me...” she whispered with a break in her voice. Her words bleed honesty in the way they sounded. Renee could only chuckle as and shake her head. If only Natalie knew the weight of her feelings. 

“And you have no idea how wonderful it is to hold you....” the two chuckled in sweet bliss before Natalie slid her hand up Renee’s cheek, tracing her jawline to her chin. The electrician used her thumb and index finger to lower Renee’s head and pull her into a another skin burning kiss. 

Was it really this easy? Just telling her was the right move all along? It was so simple but for Renee, one of the hardest tasks she had ever given herself. All this worrying and hiding her feelings from someone who felt the same way she did. If Renee wasn’t so busy losing all her senses into Natalie in that moment, she would have felt pretty foolish for letting her own head get to her like that. 

This was all satisfying and wonderful to finally have Natalie, to hold her, to feel her precious lips on her own, but at the same time it felt strange? Was that right word for her to describe this feeling? It was marvelous and heart stopping having the person she’d been craving, however, Renee hadn’t been with anyone since she lost her memories. Falling in love was the absolute last thing she worried about as Wraith. Perhaps in the life she knew before, she was married, had a family, or maybe even had a partner similar to Natalie, but in this new mindset, the first person to ever strike her heart in this way, was Nat. She felt like a love-struck teenager, falling head-over-heels for an absolutely brilliant girl. 

Easy, steady kisses were exchanged between the two, the equivalent of dipping ones toe into a cool creek. The waters were being tested between them. It took no time at all however for things to heat up and precise kisses got loose and messy, holding hands started to wander, and quiet voices made themselves heard with gentle moans smothered by mashing lips. Who knows how far things would have went there if their passionate session wasn’t interrupted by a loud crack of thunder. Both lips were pulled away and the realization between the two that they were still outside was met. 

“Maybe we should go in. Hate to sit out here and get soaking wet.” Renee smiled with flushed cheeks. Natalie giggled in response as she pulled herself up and leaned into Renee’s burning ear, 

“Who said I’m not all ready.” Natalie kissed her fevered ear lobe and pulled away with a more than giddy chuckle, knowing just what she was doing and the fire she was starting. The void-walker’s heart skipped a beat as teasing words were whispered in her ear and warm lips nipped at sensitive skin. When Natalie pulled back she looked to her with wide eyes while spikes of heat shot up her spine. Renee would have been more than satisfy with just knowing Natalie felt the same about her, that would have been enough and she wouldn’t have asked for a thing more. However, it seemed Natalie was pushing to get more from their little make-out session. 

Her legs felt like jello now, Renee wasn’t sure she could stand after hearing that. Natalie went ahead and hopped up from Renee’s grip and started ascending the stairs back to their room. Renee could have sat there in shock for the rest of the night if she didn’t immediately miss the warmth Natalie’s body created while pressed to hers. She finally snapped to her senses and stood up, giving a hard stretch before turning and eagerly following Nat’s tail. 

_ ——————————————————- _

_ (NSFW from here on out! The plot will not develop further till the next chapter!) _

Natalie was a smart, and confident girl once one got to know her. Her confidence and brains brought her bravery that she didn’t know she had. This was a scenario where she was going to use that hidden bravery and confidence to her advantage. Yes, she was nervous, but sex was textbook and Natalie was excellent at textbook materials.

She playfully returned to her less than comfy bed on the floor and waited for Renee to join her. Soon enough a slender figure crept their way in from out in the rain, closing the door behind her. Natalie watched her slowly approach, chewing her tongue in her mouth eagerly. Renee plopped down next to her and choked a nervous smile at Natalie, but she payed it no attention. Once Renee was sat comfortably next to her, Natalie immediately moved to her knees and climbed over the void-walker, straddling her hips. 

“This alright?” She asked setting herself onto Renee’s thighs pulling a quiet yelp from Renee’s throat. 

“No-no, it’s fine-great!” Renee choked collecting herself as she watch the blonde’s hips press atop her legs. Natalie’s soft hips pressed to hers? Renee could have died there!

“Are you sure?” She asked for good measure, giving her head a tilt, “you seem nervous.” 

“Ah, me? No! I’m not nervous...I’m just, you know...”

“Nervous.” A soft chuckle from Natalie made Renee sigh. Natalie eased bugged nerves with a kiss to the void-walker’s forehead. “Relax. This is just between us.” Natalie nodded. Renee already knew that, but hearing it out loud helped. 

“Right, right.” Renee’s shaky hands gently gripped Natalie’s hips holding her down to Renee’s lap. “Just us.” Natalie felt that, hard. Renee’s grip tightened slightly and she gave a light huff at the contact. Her delicate fingers reached around Renee’s head and pulled at her hair bun lightly.

“May I?” Renee simply nodded in response and felt fingers run up her scalp and tickle through her locks. She remember a blissful sensation like this before, back at the geyser when she was blessed enough to have Nat braid her hair. She couldn’t lie to herself and not enjoy this feeling, the only difference is she could now show she enjoyed the sensation rather than holding back. After a few seconds of Natalie playing in Renee’s raven locks, her hair came loose and fell leaving long trails of smooth black strands down her back. 

“So pretty.” The blonde purred, “you should wear it down more often.” Her fingers brushed through Renee’s hair with ease and the motion was repeated over and over. She combed dark locks for a few moments more before gliding her hand to Renee’s flushed cheek. Renee happily leaned into the touch till her pale lips were met with the tough skin of Natalie palm. Light slow kisses were then planted on the electrician’s hand then slowly begun to crawl up her wrist and arm. Natalie didn’t fight back, she allowed Renee’s lips to scale her arm till they met with the fabric on her shoulder. Renee then pulled away, her glowing snowy eyes glared at the fabric of Natalie shirt then up to Natalie where she got the message. 

“This is in the way.” Renee states tugging on Natalie’s white tank top. Normally, in the arena she wouldn’t be caught dead without her equipment and suit on, but Natalie had no need for all that stuff when her and Renee were currently just trying to survive. All of it was off except her tank top and spandex she wore underneath all her gear. Renee wasn’t exactly the same case though, most of her clothes she kept on since there wasn’t as many layer to her clothing. The only thing she took of was her scarf, unless they were moving around. Everything else stayed on, however the two of them were both aiming to get everything off now.

“It certainly is in the way, isn’t it.” Natalie played along as she grabbed her tank top by the base and pulled it off her in one smooth motion. Renee thought she had herself collected but seeing so much of Natalie’s skin lit her entire upper body into flames. Yes, she’d seen a good portion of Natalie’s skin before back at the geyser, but this was different. Natalie was presenting herself to Renee this time. She wanted Renee to see her, this was all for for her. “Is that better?” Natalie asked as she settled back down comfortably onto Renee. 

“Ah, yeah.... much better.” She felt almost embarrassed to look at Natalie’s features, not because she didn’t want to look, she certainly did, but she was timid to the situation. Of course the fearless unhinged Wraith would be shy to see some skin. Natalie picked up on her shyness very quickly and decided to push things forward on her own. 

“Anything else that might get in your way?”Natalie asked with the softest purr in her throat. Renee didn’t reply with words but instead, her eyes. They drug down fair peachy skin till they stoped at Natalie’s powder blue bra. Renee read like a book and Natalie was easily reading between her lines. “Yeah, I agree. This might hinder you as well.” She chuckled as her arm reached around her back and begun to blindly unhook her brasier. Renees mouth had run dry as she watched, seconds feeling like hours, as Natalie, one by one, pulled the hooks from her bra loose. 

Two different voices were screaming in Renee’s head. One, told her to look away; don’t watch her take her bra off! The other, told her to take it all in; she’s beautiful right? Her decisiveness was more than slow in these moments as before Renee could choose what to do, Natalie had already removed her bra and tossed it to join her tank top in the floor. Renee was sweating from how hot her face and body had become, and it only grew worse as she took in Natalie’s exposed chest. Perky breast with soft pink nipples were dotted with freckles, as was most of her chest and shoulders. The void-walker’s eyes traced the lichtenberg scaring over her chest and up the blonde’s neck, not sure where it started and where it ended. 

“Don’t stare, it’s rude, you know...” Natalie’s own shyness had caught up with her. Being partially exposed to Renee like this was starting to level Natalie out and calm her eagerness. Renee’s viewing session was interrupted by Natalie, snapping her back to the reality that this was real! This wasn’t a screen, a dream, or a vision; this was happening right before her. 

“S-sorry. You’re just so pretty, I couldn’t get the words out.” She chuckled nervously, forcing her eyes off soft begging skin to meet Natalie’s face. 

“Thank you.” Natalie whispered, smiling as she reached her arm out and cupped Renee’s burning cheek. “Shall we continue?” She asked leaning back into the other woman, keeping but a hair’s distance between their lips. 

“Definitely.” Renee’s voice almost growled in a hush before she dove back into Natalie where she left off on her. Cautious lips pressed against the freckles and scaring on Natalie’s shoulder. Renee was careful with how rough she pressed to Natalie’s skin. She didn’t want to harm or irritate her lichtenberg scar. Natalie hummed blissfully from the sweet kisses Renee dotted her with but became aware of the sudden gentler touch. 

“Ma Cherie, it’s alright. No need to be this easy on me.” Renee looked up at her and pulled her lips away, only for a second. 

“I just wasn’t sure how sensitive all this was.” She shrugged before placing another small kiss to soft skin. 

“It doesn’t hurt, non. In fact, it feels fantastic.” She purred with a growing grin. All the breath in Renee’s chest was forced out with a lustful huff. She happily returned to kissing and nipping at the blonde’s shoulders and waisted no time navigating up to her neck. Gentle kisses soon grew needy and rough, with each touch of Renee’s lips pulling goosebumps out of Natalie’s skin. Kissing soon turned to nibbling, and nibbling grew to biting. Renee remained cautious and aware though, listening out for Natalie to be sure she wasn’t harming her or being too rough. It was satisfying to hear, however that the only noises Natalie made were sounds of pleasure: Subtle moans, playfully hums, needy gasps, and blissful cries. This was better than anything Renee could be treated to in Heaven. Getting to love Natalie, feel her bare skin, kiss her angelic figure, and relish in her sent and taste were absolute ecstasy. 

These feral, rough lips on her neck were going to drive her insane. Renee was deliciously too good at playing with her mouth and teeth. Natalie reached around her partner and held tight to her and Renee responded by doing the same. Her strong hands grabbed Natalie’s hips and held to them, grip growing tighter with each sloppy kiss or lustful bite Renee registered. The grab to her thighs forced out a moan that caught the void-walkers attention. 

“Mmm-Renee.” She whined in a huffed moan. The lustful call of her name pulled Renee to a complete halt. Her sweet moans were just as beautiful as she imagined and to hear them mixed with her own name sent a spike of heat up her spine. She resumed her passionate feast on her marked neck by instantly biting back down, only this time hard with a desired sting behind it. Natalie jumped and yelped at the once gentle teeth now sinking into her skin. Renee released in an instant and pulled away. 

“I-I’m sorry! Was that too hard?” Natalie used her hand and rubbed her neck where she was wildly bitten. It was shocking but not painful. If she had to answer honestly, she would say it was actually a turn on to have Renee dig into her flesh like that. The bite was definitely going to leave a mark, but who was here to seen the marks anyways?

“Again...” 

“Huh?” Renee furrowed her brows in slight confusion to the answer. 

“Bite me, again! Just as hard! I loved that! Your teeth felt amazing!” Renee was astonished by the sex-driven Natalie before her now. She openly wanted to be bitten by her, and hard. Who was Renee todeny this beautiful woman of what she was craving. Renee smiled and pulled herself back into now reddening skin from the irritation her bite previously left. Another few kisses before Renee struck again this time on the other side of Natalie’s neck, sinking her teeth into the blonde’s skin then slowly pulling back only to release skin from white chompers. Natalie moaned and writhed in Renee’s grip, the sensation was causing her to buzz from head to toe. Renee happily bit and tugged on pink skin till it was red, blue and purple. Natalie didn’t mind in the slightest that Renee was marking her up, she’d wear those marks with pride. 

Renee began to take some freedom with her mouth and hands, as their heated session continued. Renee began to work lower onto Natalie’s chest, leaving lustful hickies all along her surface, while her hands gently rubbed the blonde’s hips, gripping and groping her curves, happily getting a good feel for her. Soon an erect nipple distracted her kissing descent along Natalies chest. Renee felt a shy of timidity hit her when she felt the extremely soft skin of Natalie’s breast on her lips, but it was hormones over anything else at this point. Renee drug her bottom lip over the stiff nipple before closing her lips around it. A delicate moan Renee hadn’t heard yet, squeaked it’s way out of Natalie’s throat and it only begged her to continue. Using her lips, Renee massaged and lightly kneaded her nipple, toying around with it till she locked her lips around it and started lightly suckling. 

Natalie’s head was spinning. Renee was filling her with a flame that was all pooling between her legs. Renee was enjoying taking her time to give every inch of Natalie the love it deserved, however, while Natalie was appreciative and wanted that as well, it was hard to fully appreciate her when her underwear was growing wetter by the second and everything in it was throbbing to be touched. Renee had gotten so busy toying along Natalie’s chest to realizes that the electrician was lightly thrusting her beautiful hips along Renee’s just to get the slightest pressure between her legs. Renee felt her ears burn and face light up at the sight, it was completely precious and sexy at the same time. The pressure was relieved when Renee lifted her right leg slightly, pressing it straight onto Natalie’s heat. A sharp gasp jumped from the needy blonde as she settled onto Renee’s leg further satisfying her urge, but only for a moment. 

Within seconds of Renee’s leg being pressed to her core, Natalie took the liberty of continuing to thrust against it. Satisfied moans crept from the electrician’s throat while Renee’s lips stayed busy lovingly tasting aroused skin. Soft moans grew to in audible whispers ofFrench as Natalie happily pleasured herself along Renee’s leg, and Renee was silently loosing her mind to it. The thoughts and voices in her head echoed louder than anything she had ever heard before. 

“_She’ssowet! Hermoansarebeautiful! Thisissodamnhot! Don’teverend_!”

All the sounds in her head were slurring together into a horny mess but she was able to drown them out enough to listen to the melodic moans Natalie sung. 

Two things pushed Renee to move on: one, her leg was starting to grown tired from supporting Natalie’s weight on it, and two, Renee so wanted to get those soaked bottoms off Natalie. After leaving the blonde’s chest spotted with hickies and burning with bites, Renee pulled her lips away and her leg down. A needy and disheartened whimper left Natalie as she was brought down from her heated high. 

“Is everything ok-“ her back hit the bed as Renee held her down by her freckled shoulders. Natalie looked up with wide eyes to the raven locks slipping down onto her from where Renee hovered. No words were exchanged, only a giddy giggle from Natalie at the hot and bothered thoughts running through her head. Renee’s right hand released Natalie’s shoulder and gently skimmed her index finger down the blonde’s chest and stomach straight to the fabric of Natalie’s spandex. Her finger playfully slipped under the band of her shorts and released it, allowing the fabric to smack against sensitive skin. Natalie yelped and squeaked at each slap to her skin only making her grow more and more eager. 

“Renee-“ another snap at her skin from her bottoms and it silenced her. It was becoming very clear the type of play that Renee liked: teasing. 

“You’re so pretty.” Her voice growled as Renee leaned in pressing a few more kisses to Natalie’s neck. 

“Mmm, ma Cherie...!” Natalie hummed in bliss as the warm contact of Renee’s lips met her body once more. Finally, Renee decided to slip her hand past the waist band of Natalie’s shorts, getting just a good feel for how wet Natalie had grown. The feeling sent a feverish chill up Renee’s back but it quickly spilt back down her spine and coiled heat between her legs further. Hand blindly, but easily felt around till it found what it wanted it. Renee’s teeth sunk in and held Natalie’s skin as her fingers felt the younger girl’s throbbing clit through thin fabric. She eagerly pressed down on the sensitive bud to just see the kind of reaction she could pull, and she wasn’t disappointed. Out of instinct, thin legs clamped together, locking Renee’s hand in place as well as a pleasant gasp huffed from a bitten throat. 

“Keep them open.” Renee ordered as she pulled her mouth away from Natalie’s neck and then slipped her hand out of her shorts. Renee then pulled herself off Natalie and slid both her hands down to Natalie’s shaking hips. Both of the void-runners hands were use on each leg to push them apart, hold them down, and hold them apart. After forcefully pinning her legs to the bed Renee release her grip then found her fingers all gripping at the waist band of Natalie’s shorts.

“Is this okay? May I?” Renee asked for one final confirmation, although the answer was more than clear. A subtle nodded was Natalie’s answer and that was all Renee needed. Her fingers curled around the fabric hugging Natalie’s hips and she tore them off, inching them off her legs side to side. Soiled shorts joined the rest of Natalie’s clothing on the floor immediately followed by a pair of simple white panties. And as easy as that, Natalie was now completely bare before Renee. Yesterday, this would have been a wet dream for sure, but this was tonight’s reality. 

Renee’s shirt was proving to constrict her breathing too much, or perhaps it was seeing all of Natalie exposed now? It didn’t matter either way, Renee immediately ripped her shirt off and tossed it behind her, not giving a care if she could find it again in the morning. Her hands now a bit more shaken, returned to Natalie’s legs, gently petting up them. Natalie quietly watch every motion Renee made with the heaviest need in her eyes, her body growing goose bumps both from anticipation and the chill of being nude. Natalie could feel Renee’s eyes scan over her, streaming down her chest, her stomach, her waist and to her desperate womanhood. God was she beautiful! Renee could almost feel her eyebrows simmer off from how heated her face was as she looked over ever gorgeous inch of precious Natalie. This was all hers! Hers to take!

Hands immediate returned to work as she used her ring finger and index finger together to trace Natalie’s soft pink lips only to end in a tug to her skin. Natalie jumped at the touch but urged to stay still, as difficult as it would be.Renee’s left hand held down a jumpy leg as the other hand scaled the rest of the blonde’s stubbled cunt. Renee would have never thought Nat to be one to shave like this, but it made sense when one wears the type of tight suit she did. Her index finger hovered over the blonde’s clit just for a moment before she lightly pressed onto it, releasing a purr at the texture. Gentle light circles were made, spinning her clit in the repetitive motion and each full circle made cause Natalie to moan with her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. Renee leaned in and happily kissed the inner side of Natalie’s thigh as her finger stayed busy slowly applying more and more pressure. A second finger was added as Renee used both her index and ring finger to run circles over Natalie’s swelling bud. 

It was growing harder and harder for Natalie to fight off the urge to scream. It had been ages since she was last touched like this and Renee was surprisingly so damn good. She knew just the right speed to rub, she applied the perfect amount of pressure, and she knew just went to stop and let Natalie breathe. Her toes were curling up at this point as she got that ever familiar pressure start to bloom between her legs. Renee was just simulating her clitoris too! Either Renee was mind blowingly good at this or Natalie was a bit too pent up. In all honesty, it was probably both. 

Renee’s pressure continued to harden as her speed continued to grow along with it. She listened for the audible triggers Natalie gave her, perfect signs of what she liked and what was getting her off most. Natalie cried, yelped, moaned, and thrusted into Renee’s touch, itching for more. She was so lost in the moment she didn’t care if she looked or sounded ridiculous, she was in pure bliss! Her available arm dug into the blankets and tug on them, pulling them while her toes curled. Renee would be the first to admit, her experience with women was on the lesser side, but it was a lot easier to have sex with someone who had the same body type as you, than the ladder. One wouldn’t be able to tell anyways that Renee was inexperienced with girls. The way she made Natalie curl and cry for her, spoke volumes. 

Teasing was growing boring , Renee was having fun with it but the appetizer just wasn’t filling enough. She wanted the full course. Her touch was pulled away from Natalie’s body as Renee readjusted herself. Natalie took a second to breathe and feel just how achingly close Renee was getting her to her climax. It wasn’t a rest long enough for things to settle, however, as Renee moved both hands to Natalie’s dripping cunt tracing two fingers over her entrance and two on her other hand tapping her clit. Each tap to her aching bulb forced a jolt out of Natalie’s body and a pleased smile from Renee. 

“You want more?” 

“R-Renee please!” Desperation cried in her words, “I need-I’m so close...” 

“Well, since you asked nicely.” Renee lowered her head feeling the heat radiate from Natalie’s pussy, as she tauntingly stuck her tongue out and drug it up soaked labias. The contact and warmth of Renee’s tongue tossed Natalie’s head back with a long hard moan. Her reactions were so perfect and sexy, Renee died for more of them. Another long slow kick followed by another as Natalie’s mind went completely blank unable to form words or thoughts anymore. Renee was having fun toying with her pretty prey, but decided enough was enough, no more playing around. 

A kiss was pressed to Natalie’s clit before lips locked around it with a sighing hum. Natalie’s legs tried once more to lock around Renee, but they were caught this time by skilled hands. Renee forced them back down and resumed where she left off. The gentle suckling on her clit was driving Natalie insane, she couldn’t help but writhe in pleasure as Renee’s lips ever so gently edged her closer and closer to her peak. There was no warning or sign for the next action the void-runner took, she acted on impulse, something Renee had grown good at doing. Two fingers were quickly inserted into the blonde’s soaked pussy and began to rub against Natalie’s G-spot, curling and pressing against it with lustful force. This motion took the electrician on edge, completely out of her mind. 

Natalie’s limit was reached. She couldn’t get out a word of warning before she went over the edge and came instantly. Her hand pressed to the back of Renee’s head and pushed her down into her pussy further as Natalie herself pushed her hips up into the other woman’s mouth. Renee kept her motion going, however, despite her head being shoved around. Natalie convulsed and moaned aloud while her partner eased her out of her orgasm till she laid limp. A final kiss to Natalie’s throbbing clit was placed before Renee pulled her head away and fingers from of her partner. 

The room spun as Natalie tried to catch her breath. Her hair was a mess (more than it usually was), her body was dripping with sweat, and her head was light a feather as she laid back in pure post orgasm bliss. Renee crawled up beside her and laid next to the recouping blonde, unable to hide the satisfied smile on her face, proud to have made Natalie cum. 

“How was that? I might be a little rusty.” Renee shrugged definitely remembering a few things she could have done better up until this point. Natalie kept her eyes closed and just huffed air in and out of her trying to get oxygen flowing smoothly again. 

“Amazing....” she panted with a smile. Her head turned and blue eyes met with Renee’s bleached ones once more. Renee could have sworn Natalie was looking at her with a different pair of eyes than she had before. Her eyes almost sparkled and the blue in them was so radiant, they muted the colors around them. She was so beautiful and amazing in every moment she existed in. Renee felt beyond luck to have her in this unreal moment.

“Glad to hear it.” She smiled scooting a little closer to Natalie. A few moments of peaceful silence was spent between the two. Renee, even after all that,still had trouble believing this was completely real. She still had a faint worry that this was all just a detailed dream and any second now she would wake up and things would be back to how they were. She shook the thought out of her head, Renee didn’t want to even think like that, it brought her spirits down to think she’d lose her over it all being a fantasy. “So...you uh done? Or maybe I could do more for you?” Renee offered as Natalie turned to face her. 

“Non, I should be asking you.” Natalie had great post-orgasm recovery time as she rolled over and pinned herself on top of Renee, still wet cunt pressing to her bare stomach. “Is there anything I could be doing to you?” Renee was so lost in watching Natalie’s orgasmic recover that she almost forgot how worked up and needy she herself had grown. 

“Ah... sure?” She shrugged. Even after making Natalie cum, Renee’s stubborn awkwardness to this situation lingered. Natalie didn’t mind in the lightest, however, she actually found it cute, watching Renee try her best to flirt and survive this tense sexuality. With a light chuckled, the blonde leaned in and gave Renee a few playful smooches on the lips before her fingers began to scratch down Renee’s shoulders. Pink clean nails on her pale skin made Renee shutter. It was heavenly to get to touch Natalie and tend to her needs, but get touch by her? Renee’s mind almost went blank just from the contact. 

“Heh, you’re funny, you know that?” Natalie teased watching Renee drool over her touch. 

“Well-I’m glad you find my desperate arousal comical.” She chuckled in return with a sheepish grin.

“Oh, don’t be bitter about it.” Natalie smiled and ran her hand down Renee’s shoulders and over her chest. “I suppose I should clean up the mess I’ve made, no?” Renee’s cheeks lit back up with a blush to those words. Natalie gave her chest a squeeze, massaging Renee’s breast through her bra so lovingly. “Let’s see what’s under the hood.” Natalie purred as she hooked her finger under Renee’s bra and pulled it up and over her breast. The fabric rested over her collar bone as a plump pair of aroused breast were now exposed to fresh air. Natalie’s eye lit up at the sight, while Renee was only growing more and more shy each second her breast remained on display. 

“Mom dieu! What a pretty couple you have here.” Natalie hummed. Natalie has proven to be much more vocal during sex that Renee would ever dare to be. In response, the timid void-walker just nodded and avoided any eye contact. Renee did have a quiet moan escape when she felt Natalie’s chilled hand start to knead at her right breast. “So soft and warm too.” She continued to compliment as she then snatched an aroused nipple between her fingers and gave it a small tug. The older woman’s body tensed as every nerve in her body screamed at the pinching pleasure. Renee held her breath until Natalie let her go and with a blissful sigh she looked up at the smirking blonde. 

“You are so worked up, huh?” Natalie asked as her hand ran through smooth raven locks. “I can read it across that beautiful face of yours.” Indeed Renee’s expression spoke for itself, with flushed cheeks and eyes that cried of need, Reene was a hot, turned on mess. It was embarrassing to admit, but Renee was a horny wreck at the moment. She was one who didn’t care about relationships or regular sex for that matter. It was the last thing on her mind, but Natalie was different. Renee didn’t want a relationship or sex just to have it, she wanted Natalie! She wanted this incredible girl for who she was and nothing more. Not a single other person could have done this to her. Natalie had a power over her. 

Renee nodded in agreement. She was needy, she was aroused, she wanted to cum, but she wanted Natalie to be the one to bring her to it.Natalie watch her nod and felt her heart throb. This strong woman was at her disposal, desperate and craving her. She smiled sweetly and leaned in giving the flustered Renee a kiss on her head. 

“I won’t torture you then. I’ll get right to it.”Renee found a little relief in those words, knowing Natalie would take good care of her. The younger woman slid off her and got straight to work undoing the buttons to Renee’s pants. Each button that was popped open drove Renee a little closer to going insane, until Natalie unzipped her pants and pulled them down slender legs. “Heh, I don’t think I’ve seen this much of your skin before, Cherie. You always keep so bundled up. How lucky for me then.” She played as her hand ran up a thin leg to Renee’s hips. Just the contact and touch from Natalie was killing Renee. Every touch she felt just ached between her legs further. Would she even get to feel Natalie touch her gentiles, or would she cum just from the simple touches to her surface skin? Renee wished she wasn’t desperately horny at the moment so she could fully appreciate Natalie’s gentle touch. But her body cried out to be relieved and Natalie was more than happy to satisfy. 

“I see why you wear so much dark, it looks good on your skin.” The electrician complimented while she began to tug down on black panties. Renee couldn’t reply anymore, her head was so fully of thoughts and voices everything around her was drown out by them. Removing panties from slender legs now left Renee just as exposed and nude as her partner was, and just as wet too. Natalie whispered a naughty comment in French as she looked over the figure before her, but of course the comment would go over Renee’s head. 

Natalie waisted no time. She leaned in and purred at the sight of Renee’s wet cunt. A few small black strands of hair lay at the peak of her gentiles just as dark as the hairs on her head. Natalie didn’t mind though, her attention was drawn elsewhere. A swollen pink clit poked from it hood calling to be touched and Natalie was happy to give it that attention. She leaned in and hummed pressing a kiss to the needy bud, treating Renee the same heavenly way she was treated. A few kisses were spent, then her warm tongue began to slowly lap at Renee’s clit, running over and over it. Renee laid her head back and closed her eyes, melting at the sensation. Although her eyes were closed they still rolled into the back of her skull as she tried to avoid making absurdly erotic noises. Natalie could hear the struggle of Renee trying to silence herself and it made her chuckled slightly. 

“Oh come now, Cherie. Don’t hide those beautiful sounds from me. I want to hear your pretty moans.” She snickered returning her tongue to Renee’s clit, lapping at it while picking up her pace and even giving a slight few second of suckling. It was embarrassing but Renee didn’t hold them back anymore. The noises she made were jarring to her, they were sounds and cries Renee herself had never even heard before. It was crazy and slightly embarrassing but Renee’s head was being lost in the tongue flicking her clitoris around. 

Natalie was having too much fun toying with Renee. Hearing those sensual moans she would produce while her tongue stayed busy beating around Renee’s sensitive bulb was all games for her. She wanted more. Natalie pulled two of her fingers down Renee’s labias and started to slowly ease them inside her. Feeling her body being penetrated caused Renee to tense up band gasp aloud, but tense muscles and nerves were eased as Natalie kisses Renee’s stomach. 

“Easy, Cherie.” She whispered and Reneesighed trying to calm herself. Rene brought her arms upand covered her eyes with them. This was amazing but so embarrassing at the same time. She couldn’t even remember the last time she felt this way or the last time she had sex. Both those things mixed with the noises she was making and how incredible Natalie was making her feel, was all getting to her head. Her mind was breaking from all these strong emotions, but she’d come this far, she at least wanted to orgasm. If she didn’t, she wasn’t sure her body would forgive her for getting this close and get this aroused just to call it quits out of embarrassment.

With another kiss to Renee’s stomach Natalie pulled her head back down and returned to lapping at Renee’s clit. She repeated the motion with her tongue, while also slowly easing her fingers inside the older woman until she had gotten as far as her knuckle would allow. Natalie figured Renee would react differently to everything she did, Renee was a different type of woman after all, so she took her sweet time and enjoyed getting to slowly satisfy her beloved.

Thunder and harsh rain still ripped though the night air, but Natalie would drown it out, constantly listening to her partner, taking great pride in hearing her moan and stir for her. Her fingers picked up their pace as she begun to thrust them in and out of Renee, making sure to rub against her G-Spot every chance she got. Renee now has one hand over her mouth muffling loud moans, and the other was digging around in the blankets beside her for anything to grip onto. She had zero control over her body at this point. Natalie had her rendered useless. The only thing Renee was capable of was thrusting against Natalie’s fingers and mouth, and making the most ungodly sounds in pleasure. 

Renee knew she couldn’t last much longer like this. Her partner’s fingers were hitting just the right spots and her mouth was continuously simulating her clit, not giving her a chance to rest. Renee tried to fight back and wiggle out of Natalie’s clutches, but her body felt like it was glued to the ground, and her blonde sweet was eager to have her release. Renee couldn’t fight it anymore, she caved into Natalie’s outlandishly good touches. 

“N-Nat! Fuck! I’m so-close” she huffed as her body jolted with a shocks of pleasure. Natalie responded with just a hum as her lips were too busy suckling on Renee’s sensitive pearl. Hearing Renee was closing to her peak, Natalie only thrust her fingers into her harder and faster and stimulated her clitoris further. Renee’s head felt like it weight as much as a grand piano. She couldn’t do anything other than let Natalie take her. 

“Na-Natalie...” Renee moaned biting into her bottom lip with force as she quickly reached her climax. Her back arched and her hips wildly thrusted into Natalie as Renee came hard. Natalie tried to hold her down, but Renee had an other worldly strength to her at times and this seemed to be one of those times it came out. She thrusted and shook in pure ecstasy, ending with her body hitting the bed in a plop. She sat and panted for a moment, head back and eyes closed as a drop of sweat slicked down her cheek. Natalie ate her way through Renee’s orgasm pulling away with the lick of her lips. She looked up and saw the burnt out void-walker and chuckled, slowly removing her fingers and giving them a taste of Renee’s slick left on her fingers. 

She couldn’t force her eyes open. They were so heavy just pulling them slightly open too a peak was taking all her strength. It wasn’t until she felt a gentle pair of lips on her own that her eyes were tiredly forced open. A small kiss was shared before Natalie pulled back and whispered to her tired partner,

“That was gorgeous, ma belle!” Natalie curled up beside Renee and nuzzles close to her. “So how do you feel?” It took her a second but Renee mange’s to gain control over her body once more. 

“It felt.....incredible!” She sighed with a chuckle. “Wow...you are way better at this than I expected you...” Natalie smiled but shrugged proudly. A yawn was shared between the two of them as Natalie settled in to sleep. The blonde pulled the covers over the two of them and she laid her head on Renee’s shoulder, nuzzling up against her burning skin. Rene wanted so badly to return some affection and hold her, but her body was still recouping from her massive orgasm and she was also worn, to the bone, completely out. Still, just knowing Natalie was snuggled up with her, made Renee’s heart sing. 

“Hey... Nat...” Renee whispered with a gritty tired throat. 

“Mmm...” was all Natalie managed to respond with. 

“Can you promise me something?” 

“...mmm? What’s that?”

“Can you promise that in the morning, when I wake up... this won’t be a dream, and you’ll still be here next to me...” Natalie took a moment to respond but finally fought through her drowsy mind and replied,

“Of course I’ll be here... I like you too much.” That was all the conformation Renee would need to let herself drift completely to sleep. She could rest easy now, knowing Natalie wasn’t goinganywhere and that she would remain her’s even after their heated night together. Renee almost never fell asleep that quickly, it was always a task for her to get any rest, however tonight, she easily knocked out without a care in the world, satisfied in knowing, Natalie was now her’s

_______________________________

Greetings everyone~~~~

RIP my tags after this chapter ; v ;

Long chapter I know, but (it’s a nasty secret) I enjoy writing NSFW. It’s actually most of, if not all, the writing I didn’t before coming here, in both just personal works and Role plays. 

But this chapter took a lot out of me, I got a little drained writing the second half of it but I powered through it because I heard so many people were eager to see where things went. I felt like I owed it to everyone to finish it ASAP! 

Also thank you to everyone who has been leaving the encouraging comments about my stuff. I know I’m not a top writer or anything but, the compliments go so far and help me do more ^ ^ so thank you everyone. 

This will most likely be the only major NSFW chapter in this writing. I don’t want it to be mostly lewd so this will probably be the only work of this nature for the rest of the series. Not to say I won’t spice stuff up again the future, but definitely not at this volume again. 

Anyways!

You guys are great! :) 

Next chapter will continue the story!

Thank you for reading! ^ ^ 

-Rocker


	12. Chapter 12: She Plays My Heartstrings so Beautifully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renee is hauntingly brought to the idea that her and Natalie may not be the only two left on the arena, by the voices in her head. And while Renee has yet to see anyone else, That doesn’t mean they aren’t alone.

Chapter 12: She Plays my Heart Strings so Beautifully 

_ “Get up!”  _

_ “Get up!” _

_ “Wake up!”  _

Renee’s head was booming. The voices that echoed in her mind were yelling at her while she was trying her best to sleep. With a bitter groan Renee turned over and laid on her side, hoping to block off the voices by snoozing once more. 

_ “Get up, Now! DANGER!” _

Her eyes shot open as she sat up from the poorly made bed of blankets on the floor. “God... what the hell...” she groaned rubbing the sleep out of her eyes “what’s going on?” 

_ “Someone’s watching.”  _

_ “Outside!” _

Renee froze. She could feel it. Eyes peering from a distance. A flash of fear took her over before her instincts kicked in as she turned and looked out the window that hung above the bed. Her eyes scanned around in the absolute darkness, failing to see much other than the drifting ghostly clouds in sky. The storm from earlier was fading and the sky behind it was starting to show. Strips of moon light streaked over world’s edge illuminating bits and pieces of the planet. The leaking moon light made it slightly easier to see outside but with no other forms of light, the arena was still eerily dark. She squinted her eyes to try and get a clearer look but ultimately decided opening the window would be better to see clearly. The window was a little crusty from years of neglect but Renee managed to slide it open with force. She dusted her hands off then stuck her head out into the night air, still feeling this itch she was being monitored. The night air was fresh from rain and had a breezy chill to it. The cool air blew her lose hair against bare skin producing a itchy tickle. If there was anyone out there in the dark, they were getting a nice glimpse of Renee’s bare bosom. 

“Ah! Shi-“ she growled closing the window back and quickly slumping back down into the covers, hiding her body in the mess of blankets. She was so suddenly awoken she had almost forgot about the steamy event from a few hours before that left her completely nude. A soft sigh followed by a drowsy groan shifted in the bed beside her. Natalie laid bundled up, close, being disturbed by all the noise Renee was stirring up. That’s right! Natalie had fallen asleep with her. Renee reached her hand out to soothe the blonde back into easy rest, but pulled her hand back. She was hesitant and didn’t want to push boundaries, even after their heated night. Though, now there weren’t many boundaries left to push. 

Looking down to her, Renee couldn’t help but smile. Natalie was so precious in every moment. Renee wondered still, if Natalie would continue to feel the same about her when she woke up or perhaps Natalie’s emotions were in the heat of the moment. She pursed her lips and tried to push the thought out of mind. It wouldn’t matter. Renee would continue to care for her and would do all in her power to see this sweet angel safe, even if that meant spilling blood, others or Renee’s own. 

The skirmisher snuggled back down into the covers next to her precious electrician and faced her, gazing over her doll like features. She couldn’t decide now if she should stay up and fawn over this beautiful girl or try to rest once more. The voices still stirred in her mind over being watched, but it seemed Nat was silencing them by just being here. When Renee took one look at Natalie all the troubles in the world muted into silence. Her bleached eyes grew heavy and Renee rested her head onto the pillow she made out of a wadded-up felt blanket. Whoever was watching them from outside would have to wait till the morning, Renee was far to occupied catching up on sleep with her partner. Within minuets, the void-runner quietly drifted away into sleep with ease for the second time that night. Nothing less than a miracle. 

The night began to bloom into day as the sun’s rays started to bleed through the dark sky and push away looming clouds. Even as the sky grew brighter with each passing minuet there always remained a single star in the sky. Large and bright the light shown, giving an unnatural gleam as it stuck out like a stain in the sky. No matter how blue the sky became nor how bright the sun began to beam, the esoteric star, still shined. Eventually the sun’s light began to slip through the window above the two snoozing women. Normally, Natalie was one to get up with the sun, but the past few days had been wild and energetic, to say the least. She needed a few extra hours of sleep. Even still, she rose before Renee, stretching a bit before rubbing her tired eyes. Once adjusting to the daylight, she looked around and she smiled. Renee lay close lazily sleeping still reminding her sport from the night before (or at least Natalie thought). The blonde cuddled up to the mysterious skirmisher beside her and blissfully hummed at her warmth. Renee groaned as Natalie’s head settled on to her chest, but didn’t stir further.

Quiet, warm, cuddled up and cozy; this moment was perfect! Just a simple minute in time to embrace her sweet. Renee always radiated this serious and bitter energy, but in recent days it’s faded to a much softer and open one. Natalie felt as if she can talk to Renee and Renee will listen and answer, when before you’d be luck if she even scoffed at you. This was bigger than Renee would ever realize, but Natalie had caught onto it. 

Natalie could feel herself slowly drifting, once again, into sleep and gave a quick head shake to pulled herself awake. She could easily spend a lazy day with Renee all bundled up and laying in bed. No worries and no plans. Natalie stretched her body and yawned deciding to set up before she fell asleep again. Stretching gave her a better view of the marks from the lustful spike Renee had the previous night. Bite marks and hickies dotted her body like the fur of a Dalmatian. Natalied blushed in looking over the blemished skin and couldn’t help but giggle. 

“So rough.” She sighed running her fingers over indented teeth marks on her forearm. What else did she expect from someone as unhinged as Wraith? Natalie grunted as she managed her way to her feet, gathering her clothes off the floor and redressed herself hiding those lustful marks. The duck clock that sat in the window seal above their bed had long died into the night. What little battery it had left in it was drained pretty early into the two’s sleeping. Natalie dusted her shirt off then picked up the plastic clock and popped the back open checking the batteries. “Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.” She shrugged. 

An old habit of Nat’s was tinkering with objects by opening them up and seeing what made them tick. It was something she loved as a young teen, figuring out how an item worked. For the longest time she had a desire to be and engineer, but found her passion with electricity and stuck with it. But those old habits still bite at her from time to time. As her skilled fingers begin to pick out the batteries and take the full back off the clock, exposing all its wires and dials, a sudden distant rubble of thunder roared. Not much attention was paid to it, till a second rumble came that sounded like it stretched from one end of the sky to the other. It was unnerving. 

Natalie lifted her head at the sound, turning to check if the weather had suddenly changed. The sky outside was perfectly clear. Not a cloud in sight. Thunder that close would surly bring clouds with it. The electrician placed the clock and all it parts down on the floor and stood up to check outside. Opening the door to the outside blew in a gust of chilling fresh morning air. The concrete was covered in puddles of water and droplets of rain ran down the sides of building and vehicles lining the cities street. The storm from last night was still present in the rain it left behind, but there where no clouds left for the rain to claim. Just the painted morning sky, brilliant with hues of pink soaking into blue. Natalie absorbed the refreshing atmosphere before taking a good look around for any signs of thunder clouds. 

The blonde scratched her head as not a cloud in the sky was seen. She swore it sounded just like thunder! It could have been something else, like a gun shot, but the only two left in the arena were her and Renee, at least she hoped. Her thoughts were interrupted however when she glanced up and saw a bright sparkle stand out in the mornings sky. Natalie remembered a few days before seeing the same sparkle, but today it seemed even more off. Her and Reene took it as being a star and went about their day, however It looked bigger and had a strange shape to it than it did before. It almost looked like it was growing closer, as crazy as that sounded. The more she looked the more it grew concerning to her. One thing was certain, that was no star. 

As Natalie focused on the sky outside, Renee was once again gaining consciousness for the second time that morning. A groan then a toss to her left side would hopefully help settled her back in for more sleep. However, as she turned that blissful presence from earlier was no longer there. Her hand began to sloppily feel around on the blankets for Nat but she was unsuccessful at finding her. Irritated she had to actually use her waking mind, she sat up and rubbed her eyes and peaked through heavy lids to reveal Natalie wasn’t there at all. Teal eyes opened wide at this realization and she felt her heart drop. 

“Wait-no way...” Had it all been a fantasy?It seemed that all of last nights fun and passion had been nothing more than an intense wet dream, or so it appeared to her in her tired mind. Renee sat in worry for a moment, upset that her sweet fantasies of having Natalie to herself were all fabricated in her brain, until a thought hit her. If Natalie wasn’t in bed or in the room, then where was she? Panic settled as Renee remember a hazy moment earlier in the dark of the morning. The voices had warned her they weren’t alone on worlds edge. Did something or someone take Nat while she was sleeping? How could she be so careless in ignoring her gut like that? Renee shot up from the bed and quickly began scanning the rest of the room to be certainly Natalie wasn’t there. 

The quiet grunts of drowsiness fading into worry pulled Natalie’s attention from the sky and to Renee who was now at her feet looking around the room. She let the mysterious light in the sky drift from her mind to, instead focus on her new partner scurrying around like a lost pup. 

“Good morning.” Natalie chirped returning inside with almost a skip in her step. Relief immediately calmed Renee’s chest as she saw Natalie.

“Oh... there you are. Morning...” She sighed easing her nerves. 

“Mm, here I am.” She giggled, “Everything okay?” 

“Ah yeah, just trying to fully wake up is all.” Renee rubbed the back of her head. Of course Natalie didn’t go anywhere. She can take care of herself, plus the two needed to stick together to get through this still, “How long you been up?”

“Not long.” Natalie walked to the foot of their bed and begun gathering up Renee’s scattered clothes. “Here, might want these back.” Nat tossed the clump of clothes to Renee who caught it with a quick snatch mid air. It took a second but once Renee realized this was the clothes off her back she was holding, a light blush of embarrassment hit her. 

“Ah right... thanks.” She chuckled nervously as she started picking a part what clothes belonged where and begun dressing. Natalie soon returned to their messy bed and patted the spot next to her, for Renee to join her. Of course she would accept that offer!

“You sleep well?” Questioned blonde as Renee settled back in.

“Ah, more or less.” Renee shrugged slipping her shirt over her head and pulling down her body. Natalie moved into laying her head on the skirmisher’s shoulder. Renee’s cheeks couldn’t hide their growing blush when Natalie touch her. The slightest and gentlest touch from her always gave Renee butterflies in her stomach.“What about you?” 

“Mm, considering how I was sleeping on the floor for the third night in a row, I think I slept okay.” She giggled. 

“Good.” She nodded leaning back against the wall with Natalie’s head still stuck to her shoulder. Renee felt like such a child in these scenarios. Natalie stirred her up and made her so bubbly inside it was almost embarrassing and gross to feel this soft. She loved the feel but part of her couldn’t stand feeling like a giddy kid. It’s like Natalie’s playful, soft nature was rubbing off on her. Glancing down at Natalie showed her sweet head resting against her shoulder, eyes closed, peaceful and beautiful as ever. After a moment of quiet thought looking over Natalie, Renee smiled. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to be more like this precious girl; She had such an optimistic view on the world, she tried her hundred percent best, and she kept going no matter the circumstances. Renee gave a chuckled from her nose before she leaned in and kissed the side of the blonde’s head, pulling a pleasant hum from her. 

“I’m very glad.” Natalie chuckled opening her glowing blue eyes and looked up to Renee. 

“About?” God her eyes! They always struck a nerve in Renee that made her lose her breath. 

“I’m very glad that you are here with me. I think I would have lost my mind if anyone else where here.” 

“Who says we haven’t already lost our minds? Maybe we both have just gone off-the-rails crazy.” Renee teased. 

“If this is crazy, then I’m content being insane for the rest of my life.” Renee chuckled in response before laying her head atop of Natalie’s, the blonde blushing at the contact. In a hushed tone Renee simply replied,

“Me too.” 

It always seems the best moments never last long enough.

“_SNAP OUT OF IT!”_

“_Behind you!”_ Renee jolted to her senses, setting up from the wall and pulling Natalie’s head off her shoulder in the process. A frustrated sigh got her to her feet as she looked out the window once again. 

“Ah, is everything alright?” Natalie asked a bit startled by the sudden movement and change in Renee’s tone. The skirmisher looked outside in silence for a moment, trying her hardest to scope out any threat. 

“Yeah...damn voices...” Renee opened the widow and looked out, while daylight this time, still not a movement stirred in the world around them. The skirmisher growled as she closed the window again and returned to her place on the bed. Her hands ran over her shaking head. “What the hell are you on about?” She snarled to the voices echoing in her skull. Natalie furrowed her brows, troubled to see Renee flustered. 

“Renee, are you sure everything’s alright?” Natalie asked moving to sit in front of her. “You seem agitated.” Natalie placed her hand on Renee’s leg as she lifted her head out of her hands to meet the Nat’s gaze.

“Ah...yeah, it’s fine. Just these voices, they keep talking and warning me about things that aren’t there!” Renee dropped her hands into her lap and breathed, getting the frustration out. “Maybe I have gone so crazy that the voices in my head have lost their minds.” Natalie giggled slightly at her comment before removing her hand off Renee’s leg and cupped her cheek. 

“Here, let me help.” Natalie lifted herself slightly to place a kiss on Renee’s forehead. Renee was no where near use to these overwhelmingly sweet kisses, so each one she got still caused her face to burn with a blush. “There.” Natalie pulled her lips away and replaced them with her own head, pressed lightly to Renee’s. “Better?” She asked in a whisper. 

“Mm-hm..” was all Renee could choke out as her heart lit up, beating against her ribcage. 

“Good!” She nodded and moved in further, embracing Renee into a hug. The Void-Walker happily embraced back, wrapping her arms around Nat and held her close, body to body. “No matter what, Renee. You have me. Reguardless of what happens between us or to us, we are a team. I am with you till the end of this mess and after. So any issues you have, I have them too and we’ll get through it! Your burdens are my burdens, your problems, are my problems.” She assured her squeezing her tighter. 

Those words were so strong. Renee was so use to fighting her own battles and her own trials for so long she didn’t want others involved. She was a lone wolf, and didn’t need or want anyone else to fight alongside with her. Others wouldn’t understand her problems anyhow, so she always face them standing alone. However, hearing Natalie was more than willing to help her get through, struck her. Natalie didn’t know the weight of her past, her issues, or her struggles, yet she was happily willing to take them on by her side. How ridiculous was that? Fighting someone else’s battles. Why would anyone stick their neck out like that? Regardless of how ridiculous it sounded to her, it still struck her. Renee could feel her throat choke up as her eyes dropped, tears quietly bubbling in them. 

No way! She’s not like this! She’s not the type of person to get all emotional to the point of crying? Renee tried to hold back but her tears still beaded in her eyes, growing larger till then ran down her face. What was this girl doing to her? Natalie held her heart stings and could play any mood or emotion into Renee. All Renee could do was listen. 

She cracked. Renee buried her face into the dip of Natalie’s neck as tears begun streaming down her face. Her grip grew tighter and her fingers dug into the fabric of Natalie’s shirt, squeezing it in her grip. She was silent, but most certainly crying her heart out. The only signs of her spilling her emotions like this, were her subtle shaking and quiet sniffles she would let out every so often. Natalie held her for a few quiet moments before realizing what was happening. She was stunned. Renee was balling in her arms with no warning or clear reason. Natalie didn’t say anything however, she just held her partner and allowed her to let it out. All she could think of is how nice it must feel to get it all out. Years of stubborn trauma and emotions building up all just pouring out of her in the form of tears. 

“It’s alright Ma Cherie, I got you.” She whispered as Renee’s voice cracked and a somber cry left her throat. “I’ve got you.” Natalie gently petted her hand over the back of Renee’s head, running her fingers through the raven locks she was so fond of. Natalie wasn’t so much holding Renee anymore as Renee was holding her. The skirmisher had her locked in her tight grip. Natalie still just embraced her lovingly and let her play through her episode. 

It felt nice to cry. It felt nice to get it out. Like a weight being taken off chest. Renee eased out of her tears after a few minuets of quietly sobbing, and gave a shaky sigh. Her grip loosened up as she pulled away to show her reddened eyes, nose and cheeks, wet from tears. Natalie felt her heart throb seeing Renee so vulnerable. She didn’t believe anyone had ever seen her like this. She leaned in and gave Renee’s nose a kiss, smiling to her as her hand pushed loose hairs away from the void-runners face. 

“Better?” Natalie asked 

“Better.” Renee’s strained voice answered. She wiped the tears out from under her eyes and pulled herself together. “Sorry, for... all that. I don’t know where that came from.” She embarrassingly chuckled.

“No, ma belle. Don’t be sorry.” Natalie smiled, “Never be sorry for that!” She assured her. Renee smiled slightly and sighed. 

“Don’t... Uh... don’t tell Elliot about this. Or anyone for that matter,but especially him....He’ll never let me live it down.” Renee chuckled. 

“Of course not.” Natalie giggles along with her. It was incredible to see Renee opening up and embracing being human. Natalie felt honored to see her opening up like that and she would always cherish this moment in being there for her! Natalie hesitated for a second, but then lightly drug her fingers down Renee’s jawline and lifted her chin to met her lips. Renee immediately melted into Natalie’s kiss, embracing her back. Renee would never ever turn away those soft lips when offered to her. 

While things were glowing warm and soft between the two inside their temporary home, outside, things were growing more grim by the hour. Each passing minuet the awkward glimmer in the sky grew closer and closer. Whatever it maybe, a star, a comet, an asteroid, it didn’t matter, it was still hurdling straight towards the Talos arena, and it would arrive sooner than later..

_____________________

Greetings everyone! ~~~

Just kinda a fluff chapter cause it’s what I was in a mood for! ,,U w U,,

Big thank you to everyone who is leaving the amazing comments! You make me feel loved! Also, 3,100+ hits?????? What? That’s like a massive number, thank you all so much for checking out my work. I hope you are still enjoying it! 

More to come in the future! Sorry I’m so slow. Right now I’m working full time and fighting chronic depression and anxiety so I’m doing my best with what little energy I have left in the day ; v ; seeing your comments though gets me so far, so thank you all for the encouragement! 

Thank you for reading! ^ ^ ~~


	13. Chapter 13: Happy Ending?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are growing grim. With the object in the sky growing closer and closer by the hour, Renee and Natalie are forced to make some decisions that they don’t exactly both agree on.

_ Chapter 13: Happy Ending? _

“You see it too right! It looks worse today, doesn’t?”

“Ah... I guess?” She skirmisher squinted her eyes trying to looking into the bright sky while sunlight beamed down at her. “I honestly can’t tell.” She shrugged turning and looking to the blonde next to her. Natalie gave her an unenthused sigh before raising her brows. 

“It absolutely is worse than it was a few days before, like it’s gotten bigger and it’s changing shapes!” Renee furrowed her brow and returned her gaze to the sky. Over the past few days a looming “star” had been hauntingly hovering over world’s edge, night and day. This wasn’t anything abnormal for stars, especially stars on various planets, but this “star” had some haunting properties too it. A rippling thunder could be heard on the clearest of days and it was discovered, by Natalie, that the thunder was coming from the star. Each day, however, it started sounding less like thunder and more of something similar to a roar. Day-by-day it also seemed to grow and change shape, as if it were growing closer and closer to the planet. Natalie had begun to fear it was an asteroid that may collide with the planet and the two were going to be stuck in its path. What would they do and where would they go? How could she keep them safe in that scenario? 

“Renee, I’m worried.” She confessed dropping her head and pulling away from the abandoned apartments railing. The two were out on the apartment steps burning their eyes out looking into the sun’s blinding sky. 

“Worried? What’s there to be worried about?” 

“So much!” Natalie expresses as she threw her hand out. “I mean, don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that no one has come for us yet? We have been here over a week and not a sign of rescue has come our way. We aren’t just average people, we are legends, icons of the games, especially you! Wouldn’t you think the Syndicate would want to salvage their most valued apex player?” Renee opened her mouth to argue, but Natalie was making a point. The games treated her deliciously and did a lot in their power to keep Renee around, even though she had no plans on going anywhere, (not like she was bound to a contact with them or anything). “There’s a reason no one is coming for us! They wouldn’t just throw us to the wolves! Not only that, but that thing in the sky is absolutely something to take caution of. I’m very worried that it’s something hurdling towards the planet!” Natalie gripped her hands tightly as she expressed her thoughts aloud. “I think we need to get somewhere safe, even if it turn out to be nothing!” Renee listened but her stubbornness blocked the concern Natalie was trying to place in her. 

“Nat, I think you’re looking to much I to this. It’s probably nothing and we shouldn’t waist energy worrying about nothing.”

“But what if it’s not nothing!” She argued. “Please, lets just take an ounce of caution and move somewhere safer!”

“And where would we go? This isn’t the canyon where a massive bunker is tucked inside a mountain for our safely.” Renee leaned her back against the railing of the steps, crossing her arms. “Let’s just stay here and wait out whatever it is.” 

“But Renee-“

“Ah-no, I’m staying, thats it!” Renee was content here. They had all of Sky Hook at their disposal and it would be wise to stay in an area that had food and materials they could use so close on hand. Yes, Renee was staying. She didn’t like arguing or having different views from Nat, but that’s life sometimes, huh? You don’t always see eye-to-eye. Natalie huffed, puffing her cheeks and furrowing her brows to a mad glare. She was visibly angry in the cutest way possible. Renee couldn’t take her seriously like this, cracking a grin as her viable anger. “But hey, you’re kinda cute when you’re mad.” Renee filtered with a teasing chuckle. Natalie’s expression didn’t change, but a noticeable blush rushed her face as she also crossed her arms. 

“I’m being serious...” she grumbled, before turning and heading back inside their little apartment. 

“Hey, come on!” Renee Loosely pulled her arms from crossing one another to tossing them up, “I’m only playing, Nat...” Her comment was ignored as Natalie stormed inside. Renee sighed and crossed her arms once more. She dropped her head back with groan and looked up to the sky again, attempting to watch the “star” through squinting eyelids. She would admit, it did look a little larger than it did a few days ago, but that didn’t mean it was coming straight for them, did it? Renee pursed her lips as she thought. Natalie was quite a smart girl. She was considered a scientist after all, and her cautious choices had gotten them out of many tight spots before. Maybe there was some wisdom in her words. Renee lowered her head and ran a hand over the back of her neck. She thought chewing on the inside of her cheek and reluctantly sighed. Alright...” she would cave to Natalie. 

Inside, Natalie sat on their bed, neatly folding it up, or at least her half of it. Renee might be stubborn and willing to put her mortality on the line, but Natalie was not. She had so much she owed to this world and her father that she wasn’t about to willingly die a slow fiery death as the arena melted away. She would try everything in her power to find safety, even if it was alone. That was the last thing she wanted. Renee had become important to her, she was an inspiration to her and someone she had grown feelings for, but her brain ruled over her heart. Wise choices over foolish feelings. 

Natalie was pulled from her inner monologue of bitter thoughts as Renee joined beside her, beginning to gather up her bedding as well. Natalie looked over and watched her for a moment, taken back,before Renee met her eyes. 

“Yeah so, what’s your big doomsday plan here?” Natalie’s mouth parted slightly to speak but it was quickly wiped into a smile. Renee stubbornness seemed to fall weak for Natalie. 

“Ah well, if you are willing to go along and take me serious, I do have something in mind.” Renee silently rolled her eyes but was willing to listen. “ There’s no guarantee that, whatever that is, is even a threat really. But I think it’s better to be safe than sorry, no?” 

“Right.” She replied folding up her blankets and stacking them nicely on top of each other. 

“I was thinking, while there isn’t anything near as safe as the bunker back in King’s canyon, there are similar spots across the map we could lay low in.” Natalie stacked her bedding atop of Renee’s and stood up beginning to gather up their other belongings scattered across the room. “The vaults, I think would be a good place to lay low in. They are secured inside mountains too and have those tough doors to keep people, guns, and even grenades from breaking in!”

“The loot vaults? How would we get in? They are locked and like you just said, have extremely durable door. Can’t kick down those doors... I’ve tried.” Renee shrugged shifting around the room gathering up the candles she laid about days before. 

“Mmm, no need to worry. I can get in.” Natalie hummed in a teasing tune. Renee just raised her brow to her and shrugged. Seemed Natalie knew something about the vaults that others didn’t.

“Alright, if you say so. Which one we heading for then?” 

“Mm, if I remember correctly, the nearest one was in the tunnel between Train Yard and Fuel Depot.” Renee redirected her gaze to Natalie and shook her head. 

“That’s really the closest one? That’s still a long walk from here!” 

“I know but it’s certainly closer that the one at geyser and the one outside sorting factory. It’s our best bet at getting there and getting the chance to set up before anything bad could happen.” Natalie explained stuffing the blankets into her backpack, zipping it up. Renee still had uncertain thoughts about this. This could be an incredible waist of time. However, it wasn’t like they were doing anything else or had anywhere else to be. With a reluctant sigh, Renee agree.

“Alright. We’ll head back there then.” This was all more or less to flatter Natalie. She would have liked to stay put in one place, but she figured it wasn’t the end of the world getting out and moving around some. At the very least, this would keep them busy. 

It didn’t take long for them to gather their few belongings up. All they really had were the clothes on their backs, the blankets they slept with, and the contents that never left their backpacks. Their food and water stayed in there along with any other supplies they dug up along the way. Natalie made it clear the sooner they got to the vault between Train Yard and Fuel Depot, the better and safer they would be. They both agreeed the best route to take would be to cut straight though Drill Site and Train Yard would be an easy walk to get to the vault there. Renee still remained uncertain of how Natalie exactly planned on getting the vault open. Each vault immediately reset once a champion was announced, closing its doors and replacing the valuable loot inside. A vault key was always required to unlock the doors but since the entire arena was dead with no power and the vault doors were electronic, Renee wasn’t sure what Natalie’s plan was. Still she trusted her. Natalie was brilliant after all, and Renee didn’t doubt that brilliance one bit. 

Few stops were made on their trip, only to rest and cool off. The sun continuously beamed down as the morning sunk into afternoon. The days heat reached its peak once the two of them had reached the edge of train yard. It only felt like a day ago they were both here panicking over being stuck. Yeah, if only that was all there was still to worry about. 

“Well, it’s just a little further then we can set up shop.” Natalie said taking in a deep breath only to sigh it out. Her comment went ignored. “Hey, why don’t we settle for lunch then I can work on getting the vault op-“ looking over to Renee revealed to Natalie that she wasn’t there. She quickly scanned the surrounding area and found her a few feet behind, staring straight into the air. “Uh, hey.... is everything alright.” An uneasiness started setting into Natalie’s chest as she watched Renee. This was odd behavior even for someone as odd as her. Her eyes slowly drug upwards to the sky to reveal a terrifying sight. 

A ghoulish red burned across the entire sky all rooting back to the star that had hours before only been just that, a spec of a star in the days sky, however, it currently had grown to a massive burning light, downing out the sun, emitting what looked like smoke from around it. Natalie felt her throat choke as she looked in awe at the glorious light. As both were looking in shock a rumble of thunder emitted from it, so loud it cause both to cover their ears. 

“You were right...” Renee mumbled in disbelief. “We gotta go!” Renee immediately sprung into action, grabbing Natalie’s hand and pulling her straight towards Train Yard. Natalie yelped at the sudden force but followed quickly. She continuously kept looking up into the sky, out of fear and to keep an eye on the burning light hurdling towards them. The more she checked, however, the less the light looked like an asteroid or anything naturally made in space. Natalie couldn’t get a clear look at it however, it was so bright, it was hard to look at for long, but it looked almost like a giant light with three smaller lights inside it in the shape of a triangle. It stung to look at it too long so she would have to pull her gaze and let her eyes rest before looking again. Even after checking time after time, she still wasn’t sue what she was looking at and what was coming straight for the planet. 

Renee drug her all the way through Train Yard and down the Tunnel’s choke straight to the vault door. Natalie collected herself and her breath from being roughly pulled along then sat her backpack down. “Alright. Let me get this open....” Natalie said cracking her knuckles and getting down on her knees in front of the door. 

“Nat, I don’t think we have the time for you to fiddle with the door. You want to try and see if we can just force it open?” Renee asked looking back outside the tunnel.

“Wouldn’t do any good. These door are though, remember! Besides, got this!” She confidently responded as she popped the scanner that read the vault key off and open the panel underneath it exposing the scanner’s mother board. She carefully pulled the mother board out and pulled loose a black wire that was plugged into it. The second the wire was pulled, both doors made a a loud clang sound as the hatchet locking the doors came loose. Renee raise her brow surprise the door could be opened with such ease. Natalie looked back over her shoulder at Renee giving her a smug smirk. Renee blushed a bit from her disbelief in Natalie’s genius but didn’t have long to admire her trick as a rumble from the sky shook the entire planet. The earth tumbled, rocks shook, and dust and debris crumbled from the tunnel’s ceiling. 

“Alright, you’re amazing, I’m wrong, now get inside!” Renee grabbedNatalie’s backpack, pushed Natalie in, then took both doors slamming them shut behind them. “Okay, think we are good?” Natalie collected herself, dusting the dirt from her knees. 

“I believe so, or at least safer in here than we would be out there.” Renee sighed and moved a few strands of loose hair from her face.

“Well, that’s better at least.” 

“I hope so...” another earth shaking rumbled cause both took look at each other. Even though they were safely tucked away in the loot vault, Natalie still felt uneasy about so many things. Renee could read it on her face and in her voice. She needed to stop being a stubborn ass, trust Natalie, and be there for her.

“Hey, if nothing else, we got each other right?” Renee forced a smile as she made her way over to one of the loot covered benches and pushed aside all the useless glimmering armor and gun attachments. Renee sat and motioned for Natalie to join here. “We got each other here.” Natalie’s lips curled a small smile on the ends of them as she joined Renee on the little bench. “Hopefully whatever is out there will do one of two things here. One: it will hit the planet and we will be safe and sound in our cozy little bunker. Or two: whatever is hurdling towards the planet crushes us and we die instantly.” Natalie turned and gave her a concerned look at her comment, “Ah... but I’m rooting for the first option.” She huffed. 

“Me too.” Natalie whispered looking down at her muddied shoes, tapping the tips of them together. Another planet shuttering rubble caused both their hearts to skip a beat. Things were growing morbid. There was a high chance of that thing in the sky destroying the entire planet and they would go down with it. It was horrible to think about, but these might be there last few moments together. Renee didn’t want to think like that, but she was realistic. Her heart grew heavy as she sat in silence with Natalie only listening to the roars and cackles of thunder outside and feeling the ground shake beneath them. If this was to be there last moments together, Renee didn’t want them to be so grim. 

“So... er... I was thinking...you want to know?” Renee struggled to choke those words from her throat. Natalie lifted her gaze and tilted her head to the void-runner.

“About...” 

“About...mmm... when I started to you know, develop feelings for you.” All the confidence in Renees chest has just spilled out onto the floor with those words. Renee averted her eyes from Nat as her cheeks blushed up. She still wasn’t good at expressing how she felt about Natalie. The blonde’s brows rose. 

“Where is this coming from?” She asked as her face started to light up more.

“Oh, I don’t kn-“ another shaking rumble. They are growing louder and harsher. “..ow, it’s just something to talk about, and I thought you might like to know.” Once things stabilized from the rumbling, Natalie met Renee’s eyes and nodded. 

“I would love to know.” That sweet smile returned to her face as Natalie inched a bit close to Renee to listen. It lifted a burden off the skirmisher’s chest seeing her at ease. Renee sat up and begun to recall their little journey together, remembering all her thoughts and feelings towards Nat as they had gone along. Everything from when they first dropped off the ship the morning all this started, to their dip at geyser, to all the flustered, nervous, and heart racing nonsense that went on in her head was covered by Renee. Natalie listened to every detail with her hears and her heart. The occasional earth shutter would interrupt her story but she didn’t let the macabre scene brewing outside ruin their time together. Renee’s story definitely was helping. Both found comfort in their little bunker and had almost forgot about the dismay outside. 

Renee completed her story with the events from the previous night being her sweet ending. Natalie gave a playful clap at the ending and giggled. “Wonderful story, ma belle! It was beautiful!” Renee shrugged and fought off a blush. 

“Ah, it’s just the truth.”

“Still wonderful and has a happy ending too!” The blonde teased. 

“Oh yes! I am very happy with the ending.” Renee admitted, scooting a little closer to Nat only to wrap an arm around her and pull her in to a hug. Natalie giggles at the contact and happily embraced back. For now, it was happy ending, but there were still conflicts in Renee’s story, like how the two were still stuck on the empty planet and an asteroid of death was launching straight towards them. Renee wanted the best ending and the best path for Natalie even if them meant the rest of Natalie’s story would be without her in the picture. Renee has already sealed that fate. If it came to those types of choices, Natalie came first! The skirmisher’s grip tighten around the blonde as these thoughts flooding her mind. Natalie came first, in everything! 

Another harsh rumble outside loosened some rock from the tunnels ceiling as it slammed against the ground outside the vault. Both women turned as they hear it hit realizing that the tremors were getting worse and closer together. Neither dared to look outside, however. 

“Ah...Would you like to know my half?” Natalie suggested trying to lighten spirits again. Renee’s eyes lit up. Getting to hear how Natalie felt about her all this time? Did she really want to know? Of course! 

“Y-yeah! I would love too!” Renee eagerly replied. 

“Well, I’ve said it before, I always admired you and saw you! I saw you the first day you showed up as an Apex Legend! Nothing got past me when it came to the games. I grew up in the canyon and helped build some of its features, but that’s no secret!” She chuckled and continued, “I remember the first day I saw you up on those large banners in the arena. I felt so small looking up and seeing you,a champion legend, so mysterious and strong. I got to watch you in the games thefirst season and how you crushed the competition and dominated match, after match. It really inspired me, seeing another woman so strong and owning the apex games like that! It really was the decision maker for me to join! I thought about it for months but decided I wanted to inspire others like you inspired me in the games!” Natalie’s tone changed slightly as her finger curled around a loose strand of her hair, “I actually... was really nervous about meeting you and the other legends, though many of the others already knew me. I felt like a little sister to people like Makoa, Ajay, and Dr. Caustic, but I hadn’t seen much of you or Anita outside of games. I wasn’t sure what to think.” She shrugged. 

“So I was some freak show, crazy woman to you huh?” Renee teased. 

“Oh no! I never thought anything like that! I just didn’t know how friendly you were, that’s all.” Natalie sheepishly chuckled. “I’m glad it turned out you are very friendly.” 

“Well... to some...others...” Renee shrugged. 

“Oh you’re nice and you know it.” Natalie responded playfully shoving Renee’s shoulder. Another shuttering rumble, this time shifting both girls in their seat. They looked to one another with worry, but Renee was quick to get back to the subject.

“So then what....” 

“Um... Oh! It was wonderful getting to play along side you and get to know you. You were very mysterious and I always wanted to ask you more about yourself and who you were, but didn’t want to pester. I guess I got my wish though. Being stuck here with you sure has answered some questions I always had.” Her head dropped as she looked at her hand, fidgeting with it as she continued, “and I started getting, you know... strongerfeelings for you after we left geyser. I feel like you really opened up there and I could talk to you and not ‘Wraith.’ Up until then, I felt like we were still playing in the match! Just working together to win or in this case get out of here. But afterwards, I felt like I was spending time with a friend and not a teammate. I wanted to know even more about you and understand how I could help you! I didn’t want to know Wraith, I wanted to know Renee! And I-“ Natalie returned her gaze to Renee and gasped quietly seeing Renee’s expression. Renee has her hand over her mouth and her face was completely flushed red as she listened to Natalie. “Ah! I’m sorry! Did I say something!” She jumped cupping Renee’s cheek. 

“No, you’re fine.” She huffed swallowing her feelings back down. “It’s just nice to hear you feel similar is all..” Renee confessed. Natalie smiled and nodded.

“Of course!” She pulled herself in and hugged Renee, feeling the void-walker’s heart race in her chest. Renee embrace Natalie back, giving her a large bear hug in return. “To say you are an important person to me, is an understatement.” Natalie whispered as she laid her head on Renee’s shoulder. She felt important when Natalie was around. She felt like more than a social shadow with few friends. She felt like she belonged here and she wasn’t alone!

“You’re important to me too...” Renee replied, allowing Natalie to melt into her grip. Renee placed a small kiss to the blonde’s head before laying her head atop Natalie’s. “No one has ever made me feel like this! Even in my previous life I would have remembered someone making me feel this way! No one has ever, EVER done this to me!” A moment of pleasant silence passed between the two, before Natalie wiggled her head out from under Renee’s. 

“I’ve never felt this way either...it’s not like lustful, or anything like that! And I don’t feel this way for attention..I genuinely admire and adore you for you being yourself!” Renee felt her throat choke as Natalie spoke. How was she so lucky to have scored someone as golden-hearted as her? To prevent herself from crying a second time that day, Renee leaned in and gave Natalie a kiss on the nose. The younger girl giggled at the smooch and returned one, but instead, she planted a kiss on Renee’s lips. She happily gave one back in return. Their lips stayed busy, sharing emotional kisses back and forth till a booming sound erupted from outside. The sound was so loud both girls could feel it rumble through their bones. Both women pulled away and looked towards the door in awe. Was this it? Was this going to be their last moments alive? Seconds of silence passed before the meanest by far, worst tremor came, shaking the entire planet like mad. The ground ruptured and shook causing debris to fall all around them and outside the vault. It shook both Renee and Natalie onto the ground where they uncontrollably shook from the unstable earth below them.

“RENEE!” Natalie yelled over the sound of the ground quaking. Renee immediately sat up and pulled Natalie into her grip. Natalie clung to Renee for dear life, and Renee clutched her tightly, all though Renee knew she couldn’t give much protection in the moment. She felt useless that all she could do was hold Natalie and not actually get her to safety or protect her. In a normal circumstance, Rene could easily punch a portal for them to use and get to safer ground, but with no power to her tech, she was as useful as your average Joe. Natalie kept her hand pressed to one ear and her other ear pressed to Renee to block out the hideous sounds roaring around them. Renee tried her best cover as much of Natalie as she could with her body, in the case of falling debris. She was not about to let anything harm her sweet girl! Renee would happily tank Hell for her.

The ground began to calm and the shaking was staring to slow, however that damage had been done! One of the large pipes that were tight to the tunnel’s ceiling outside their little bunker had broke loose and slammed against the door. Renee jumped at the sound and Natalie yelped, but no harm came to either of them. Just the eerie creeks and cracks that’s the pipe made was all that could be heard. Soon the rumbles came to a complete stop and so did the deafening roaring. They waited, shaken up, scared, and anxious. Was it over? Did the end come and go and they still lived to tell the tail? It seemed Natalie’s little bunker idea had saved their skins for the day. She was showing to one-up Renee in these situations with her brilliant ideas and they were keeping them both safe. Natalie remained glued to the skirmisher, finding the most safety attached to her and Renee was happy to be that kinda of shield for her. The blonde quivered as Renee’s listened closely. There’s no way there could be more. That was extremely rough, it had to be over!

“Natalie, I am going to check outside. I want you to stay here!” She stated pulling her hands around and placing them on Natalie’s shoulders. “I will be right back!”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Natalie yelled clinging to her tighter! “You will not go out there and die!”

“We need to know if it’s safe to go out or if it’s even over!” Renee argued trying to pull the younger girl off. Natalie just squeezed her tightly as tears started bubbling up in her eyes. Once Renee realized her sweet was staring to cry she couldn’t help but crave into her. “Ugh...look, I’ll just peak out the door, okay? But I really do need to see if things have calmed down for good.” She huffed seeing Natalie sniffle, eyes full of worry. “Promise, I won’t go but to the door.” Natalie reluctantly let her go with a frown as Renee stood and dusted the debris off her. She worried how the world outside had changed. Would everything be gone and World’s edge would be just a crisp shadow of itself, or was it even safe to go out and look for that matter?Natalie pulled herself together on the ground trying to ease her nerves as she watch Renee inch closer to the vaults doors. 

The door didn’t have handles on the inside but could be pushed open with ease, normally. Renee pressed her hands to the door and gave it a shove, but the door didn’t budge. A second attempt was made, this time with more force. The door slid open but only an inch or so as one of the fallen pipes outside was blocking the door from opening further. 

“Damnit...” she growled through her teeth, pressing her shoulder to the door and pushing with her weight now. 

“Is everything alright?” Natalie asked, stumbling yo her feet. Renee only responded with a frustrated grunt as she pulled her shoulder away from her door and instead gave it a hard kick. “Renee!” Natalie exclaimed moving to her side.

“Damn thing won’t open!” She gave another kick but didn’t get the door open any further than before. Natalie turned her gaze to the large stubborn doors as sinking anxiety sunk into her stomach. Did they just live through an asteroid colliding with planet only to be trapped inside the vault by fallen debris? 

_________________________________

Greetings everyone! ~~~

Writing these are interesting because I will have an idea in my head for months but then at the last minute change course and go a different direction. I like how this is ending up though so I’ll see where it takes me! 

Thank you again to everyone for the amazing words of encouragement! They really boost me up and help me write more and better :) 

Thank you for reading! ^ ^ 


	14. Chapter 14: Anything but Lose Her!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still trapped inside the vault, Renee and Natalie manage to find away to escape, however in the middle of conducting their plan, something unknown but horrific happens to Natalie, leaving Renee completely alone.

_ Chapter 14: Anything but lose her. _

“Ready! Again! Three... two... one... now!” Both pressed their weight against the busted doors, shoulders to cold metal. The doors creaked and hissed, but didn’t open beyond straining against the rubble blocking it. A few seconds of head throbbing pushing was made, before both pulled back with a huff. 

“Damn it!” Renee yelled kicking the door in a fit of anger. 

“It’s not use...” Natalie huffed holding herself up with her hand on her knee “Thing won’t budge! We’ll have to pull it open.”

“Look at all the rubble blocking the door, Nat. We open it and it’s going to flood into the room and it might block us even further!”Renee argued throwing her hands up and pacing away. 

“Well it’s better than pushing AGAINST a blocked door.” Natalie gave Renee a strong look before returning to the loot vault’s doors. “Let’s at least try.” Renee grumbled at Natalie’s comment but what choices did they have? She didn’t want to remain trapped here any longer than necessary, so it looks like pulling the door open was their only viable option. 

“Alright. Just back up.” Renee sighed taking the handles to the vault’s doors and clutching them. She looked through the door’s window at all the debris that had fallen from the tunnels ceiling and the large grey pipe blocking the door, assessing how much of it was going to tumble inward once she started pulling the door open. After a few seconds of thinking she exhaled and turned to Natalie. “Just promise to dig me out if I get buried. Don’t know what this will do.” Natalie shook her head at the absurdity but agreed, and took a few steps back ready to help in anyways she could. Renee bit the inside of her mouth as she yanked the doors open effortlessly as the rubble and debris that blocked the door tumbled and rolled into the vault with force. Renee managed to jumped out of the way in just enough time to not get caught in the avalanche of rock and metal that flood the doorway. Dust clouded the room as the echo of rumbling rock vibrated through the tiny room. 

“Renee!” Natalie shouted loosing sight of her partner in the dusty vault. The blinding grey fog made it difficult to see and every more difficult to breathe. As the last bit of debis tumbled in, a hearty coughing could be heard on the other side of the room.

“Yeah... I’m okay.” She choked on the dust that flew in the air as she waved it away. “You alright?”

“Yes. I think so.” Natalie replied. The grey dust filled the room for a few seconds but was quickly waved away by the two and clean air was breathable again. Once it begun to settle, it revealed that the entire entrance to the vault was flooded with rocks, chunks of the tunnel’s ceiling and most noticeable the pipe blocking the entire entrance. The two women looked in silence for a moment, assessing the mess they created. 

Looking at the disarray of rock and metal showed there was no easy way out the doors. The pipe blocked most of it with the help of some large rocks keeping it in place. The pipe was also thick but the actual entrance of it was too small too crawl through or this would have been an easier ordeal to handle. A massive rock also kept half of the pipe pinned to the ground, moving it was going to be a hassle. 

“Well, let’s get to digging.” Renee said cracking her knuckles. Natalie looked to her then nodded. 

“Right! We can clear the rocks out of the way then try to move the pipe.” Natalie explained as she got to her knees and begun tossing chunks of rocks to the side. Renee glances up to look at the massive grey pipe blocking the entrance. She hoped it would be as simple as pushing it to the side, but Renee had a gut feeling that wasn’t going to be the case. 

Clearing the fallen debris out of the way enough for them to reach the pipe was no sweat, it was the pipe that was going to be the challenge. Natalie pokes her head out of a small gap between the pipe and the door way, looking to see if there was any sign of weak spots. She pulled herself back in and shook her head.

“There’s debris and rock on the other side keeping it pushed again the doorway, I don’t think you can push it.” Natalie frowned. Renee cursed under her breath and chewed on the inside of her lip. 

“So no pushing it away from the door, then what?” Renee kicked a small rock around thinking. “Is there anything other than this big rock blocking the top of it on the other side?” Natalie shook her head.

“No, I don’t think so. Not that I could see anyways.” Renee snapped her fingers then approached the pipe. 

“Right, then here’s what I’m going to do. Since there is a little moving room between the ground and this big rock blocking us in with the pipe, I’m going to lift the pipe up as far as I can and I need you to crawl under it and slip out. Once out you can get a good look of how badly the entrance is blocked then we can find a way to get me out. Got it?” The more Renee explained the more Natalie’s Lips curled to a frown. 

“Whoa, I’m not going to just leave you in here alone! I’m staying right by your side!” Natalie huffed crossing her arms. Renee rolled her eyes. Natalie’s dedication was cute, but for this to work she would have to cooperate. Renee approached the kinds and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t really want to be separated from you either, but we are in a bit of a sticky situation here and we are going to have to work outside the box.” Renee took Natalie’s hands in her own and held them gently. Her fingers ran over the backs of Natalie’s hands softly before she continued. “We are working as a team here. I’ll still be here, just on the other side of the rubble, and if you really need to, I can lift the pipe up to let you back in again, okay?” Natalie looked at her with dazed eyes. It was like Renee’s hands could soothe the anxiety out of Natalie, and they gave her the confidence to do what she felt she never could. She felt her herself ease up as she spoke to her directly.

“Mmm.. alright. Just please be carful!” Natalie nodded as she leaned in and gave Renee a small peck on the cheek. 

“Of course!” Renee smiled. She could never hold back a grin when Natalie’s lips came into contact with her. She’d smile as big as a circus clown if she wasn’t trying to hold back and focus at the moment. “Let’s do this!” She took in a deep breath, squat down to the pipe’s level, and grabbed underneath it. She begun lifting it up, rubble and dust stirred as she rose the pipe. Renee grunted at its weight as she used all the force in her small stature to lift the pipe off the ground. The pipe hit the bottom of the big rock blocking part of the exits to the vaults, she couldn’t get it any higher. “h-how’s that?” She forced out as Natalie got down to the ground and checked the width of the crawl space Renee was creating. 

“That should be good. I’m going now! You got it?” Natalie asked turning her head back up to see Renee, chest out holding up the pipe with all her strength.

“For now...yes. Go!” Natalie didn’t hesitate. She really didn’t want that pipe to squish her. She trusted in Renee’s strength to keep her safe, but she also saw how she was struggling, so no chances were taken. It was right, but Natalie managed to squeeze underneath the narrow space that was made and slid out onto the other side.

“Alright I’m through!” She shouted, and immediate the pipe dropped with an echoing thud. Renee grunted in release and shook her hands. That was no small pipe but she managed to keep it up and see Natalie safe on the other side. 

“Good! ...Now, what’s going on out there? Is there anyway we can clear the door?” Natalie stood up and dusted the dirt off her knees and legs then took a quick look at the mess before her. The tunnel now had a big hole in the ceiling from there the rocks, debris, and pipe were once held. Stray broken wires and other characters pipes hung from the ceiling, they would have certainly been a hazard ifthe electricity was still running through the arena. Looking at the damage before the door, the mess wasn’t not as bad as Natalie expected it to be. The large rock could easily be pushed aside since nothing was blocking it and once the rock was moved, the pipe could be pushed away from the door with ease. 

“It’s... it’s actually not bad.” She yelled to Renee, placing a hand on the bolder and examining around it. 

“It’s not? Great! This will be easy.”

“Yeah. This shouldn’t be too bad!” Natalie notices that other smaller rocks were helping keep the bolder in place, but all together, that was the worst of it. “Let me see if I can move some of this.” Natalie took in a breath and pressed her hands to the large rock, giving it a hard push. It was stubborn and didn’t budge much, but after giving a second push, the rock begun to slide. “I think I got it...” she mumbled as she pushed harder and harder. The rock slid and then she finally managed to roll the thing onto its side and out of the way. Natalie gave an exhausted huff but felt proud that she was able to move that monster out of the way. “I got the worst of it out of the way, Renee!” 

“Oh nice! Want me to try now and push the pipe out?” 

“No! Wait, there is still more. Let me move these real quick!” She shoved a few more of the larger rocks to the side giving more room for movement on the outside of the vault. Even in moments like this Natalie was still perfect with her placements and precise with how she organized things, moving all the rocks away from the direction Renee would be pushing the pipe towards. Before Natalie could do much more, however, she felt a hideous chill on her neck that made the hairs stand on end. It was cold and felt like dark eyes glaring at her from behind. She quickly turned to see nothing but the rest of the dark tunnel behind her, but the feeling lingered forming a knot in her throat. “Renee...” The skirmisher was still inside the vault, waiting, leaning against the pipe a bit, still resting from lifting it the first time. Her head pulled up as her name was called. 

“Yeah, everything okay?” She inhaled and pulled herself up listening closer to Natalie’s muffled voice on the other side of the rubble. Natalie stayed silent for a moment, pulling Renee to start worrying. “Nat?” 

“I think I should come back in...” blue eyes remained stuck on the end of the tunnel. It remained eerily quiet but Natalie didn’t feel alone. “Renee...please...”

“What? Um... okay? Let me just-“

“Renee, RENEE! Let me in!” Natalie’s worried tone launched into a full panicked scream. Renee jumped, shed never heard Natalie scream like this before, it was gut retching.

“Ah! What’s going on?” Renee asked confused and growing worried by the second.

“Let me in! Please, PLEASE!” Renee could hear and feel the vibrations of Natalie’s fist slamming against the other side of the pipe in desperation. “RENEE!” It then struck her. It didn’t matter what was happening out there, Natalie needed help! Renee got back down and lifted the pipe up, this time with the strength of adrenaline to fuel her.

“Come on!” She grunted holding the pipe up once more. 

“Ah! Renee! I-AAAAAAAAA-“ an utterly frightened scream, and then silence. 

“Natalie....N-Nat! Come on....This isn’t funny! ANSWER ME!” Renee still stood struggling to hold the pipe up as fear and worry begun to dilute her adrenaline. “Natalie please!” Her arms finally gave and the pipe slammed against the ground shoot dust as it made contact. After a breath or two, reality, sat in. Renee slammed her fist against the pipe and the hit rung through the metal creating an ominous ringing that seemed much louder in the silence. “NATALIE! Answer me now!” Renee wasn’t one to scream or raise her voice, but something was wrong. Anxiety started to sink into her chest hearing no response, no sound from the other side. After a moment of absorbing the anxiety and worry into her, her fist hit the pipe again this time out of anger. It made her boil that she was stuck inside and Natalie needed her out there. She rolled up her long sleeves pressed her hands to the pipe blocking the door and pushed with all her might. She didn’t care if God himself was holding that pipe to the door, she was going to move it. The damn thing was stubborn, it hardly moved, but as long as it inched or even moved a hair’s distance with each push, Renee would go till she could lift her arms. 

A second push was made, then a third, fourth, fifth.Progress was slow but it was being made. At the sixth push her arms were pulsing, her palms and fingers were red with the force being put on them. This was getting painful but Renee had no other choices in this situation. Something was wrong and Natalie needed her, she WAS going to be there! The thought alone me her throat choke and her stomach churn. This wasn’t to get her out of the vault anymore, this was to see Natalie safe. Seventh, eighth, ninth, push and her face was red, sweat running down the sides of her head, but she was almost there. Just another inch or so and she could squeeze through a small space between the doorway and the pipe, and get to her. One more final big push and Renee pulled away. Her hands throbbed and burned, her breathing was forced, but no time to rest. Renee forced her body through the small space she created. It was a tight squeeze even for her small stature, but sucking in her gut got her through, one leg at a time. 

“Natalie!” She yelled one she fell straight out of the vault onto the dusty ground outside the vault. She pushed herself up with weak arms and labored breathing, now in a panic. “Natalie, wha-“ her fingers dug into her hair and pulled it slightly. What had happened? Everything was going well, and then it sifted into a horror scene. Renee allowed anxiety to choke her guts as a small piece of fabric caught her eye. Torn and dirtied, laid on the ground, obvious. She reached down and picked it up. It looked like a piece of Natalie’s jumpsuit she wore over her normal clothes. Renee griped it in her palm and ran out of the tunnel back into Train Yard, jumping over rocks and debris in her way.

“Natalie!” She yelled aloud. Her voice echoed through the hallow arena for hundreds of meters. It was haunting. The only response she got was the chant of her echo and a gust of empty wind that blew by. Her fear was taking over. She didn’t protect her. She wasn’t there for her. Something horrible happened to Natalie and Renee failed her. She let it overcome her. Her fears and her anxieties all swarmed in her head like a nest of angry wasps. Her head throbbed as she sunk to her knees wrapping her arms around herself, squeezing her body, digging her finger nails in. She felt sick like she was going to vomit from the anxiety. Once again, she was lone in the arena. At least before when she was alone, Natalie was simply unconscious. But now Renee truly was alone. Tears began to bubble in her eyes, her head was fuming with a million troubling thoughts, but before she could fully fall into her distraught, a cry echoed out. 

“Renee....” it was distant, hardly audible, and riddled with fear but Renee heard it clear as day. She shot up from the ground and frantically looked around. 

“NATALIE!” Tears ran down her cheeks as she yelled cupping her hands around her mouth to hopefully reach Natalie’s ears. No response, but she did hear the general direction from where she called. Renee turned and ran back through the destroyed tunnels and straight out to where fuel depot was. She didn’t care what was happening she was going after her. If it was a pack of prowlers, she’d fight them with her bare hands. Anything to save her. 

Once outside the tunnels, it took her no time at all to discover the changes that were made to the area as right outside the tunnel, in view of everything in the area, was a gigantic planet harvester. The machine towered in the arena certainly viewable from most of the map, as it hovered over many of the gauntlet’s mountain tops. An intense heat rumbled from it core creating a hazy heated view of the whole area where fuel Depot once sat. Renee looked out with eyes wide in shock. This must have been the reason the planet was erupting in tremors and quakes. The strange star in the sky was no start at all, it was a harvester. The thing dug down into the planet’s core and caused massive cracks to form all around it that stretched for meters across the battle field. No wonder it felt like the planet had been destroyed earlier, it partially was! Another scream from Natalie pulled her attention away the sky tracing machine. Her voice didn’t sound as distant now. “Natalie!” She cries out to again no response. Before she could think or take any further action, her guidance came to the rescue. 

“_Harvester! Go now! _

_ “She needs you!” _

_ “Go!”  _

Renee didn’t hesitate. She trusted the voices and had come a long way with them. She knew they would guide her in the right direction. Renee ran straight towards Harvester, Kunai in hand, and teeth sinking into her tongue. Her eyes began to glow their icon misty blue, a sign she was focused, and taking in the knowledge the voices were providing her with. She wasn’t about to lose her! Not her! Renee would rather die by fire at the stake than lose her. Anything but lose her! The heat from the harvester grew more intense as she approached the towering machine. It roared, rumbled and bubbled, working its energy out of the planet. She didn’t know what happened to Natalie, but whoever dared to touch her, was about to be one dead bastard. 

* * *

Greetings everyone! ~~~

Sorry it took so long for me to get tot he next chapter. Been busy with life, other hobbies and trying to stay mentally healthy. But we are coming to a close in my story here. I would say there are less than 4 chapters left maybe, if it all plays out the way I want. 

I appreciate all the nice comments and feedback! you guys are the best! Thank you so much! I’ll get to work on the next chapter ASAP!

Thank you for reading! :) 

**Author's Note:**

> Greeting everyone! ~~~  
My name is Off My Rocker, but you can call me Rocker. This is my first large literary piece I have ever made in the style of a fanfic. I hope you enjoy it and there is so much more to come so I hope you will stick around to see it unfold. 
> 
> With this being my first work of this kind, I’m sure there will be plenty of grammatical errors, sadly. I enjoy writing but that dose not make me an expert at it. I also am dyslexic so if you see words spelt strange or letters out out place, I apologize. I proof read my writings but even after reading them I still miss my errors, so I’m sorry for that in advance.
> 
> I am enjoying apex legends a lot right now and I am especially interested in the Wattson and Wraith ship, (darkspark I believe it’s called). I find the pairing so cute, so be prepared for some fluff and potential smut with these two in the future as my story plays out. 
> 
> You’ll have to let me know what your thoughts were on my writings! :) 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
